In your garden: Bright ideas to add some colour

IT'S at this time of year you realise that late summer blooms can almost be more eye-catching and long-lasting than those that bloom earlier in the season.

If you haven't given a thought to how your borders are going to look in August and beyond, maybe it's time to turn over a new leaf.

Thanks to the unusually warm spring, much bedding has been blooming its heart out since April or May and has just about run out of steam, so if your tired-looking petunias have gone soggy and drooped in the recent rains or other blooms are past their best, bite the bullet and replace them with some sizzling patio stalwarts, which can be replanted later in the border.

Dahlias have made a comeback and there are some stunning varieties that will merge into a hot scheme. Consider the vermilion-red semi-double blooms of D. Bishop of Llandaff alongside the deep yellow D. Bishop of York, wonderfully offset by dark foliage in the border. Types like the single Mount Noddy, with its velvety red flowers, are best planted en masse.

In exotic schemes red hot pokers (Kniphofia) provide colour and structure with their tall, striking stems and red and yellow rocket-shaped flowers. A good option is Ice Queen if you fancy the calmer hue of creamy yellow flowers but want a plant that grows to around 4ft tall. For smaller, daintier varieties which could be placed nearer the front of the border, Toffee Nosed or Little Maid are better choices.

Tubs and troughs of vivid, vibrant nasturtiums can also provide late summer interest, in shades of reds, oranges and yellows, while black-eyed Susan, or thunbergia, will twine itself up trellis or tumble over hanging baskets in a sunny, sheltered spot until October.

Other stunning additions to the border that do well in lightly shaded areas are hemerocallis (day lily), astilbe and astrantia.

If you're not into brash and bold, you can opt for the softer hues of summer phlox in a variety of colours, from white to deep pink, some of which have variegated leaves.