Yellow and green glory in your late summer garden

Stunning Inula magnifica will make a great addition to the late summer garden, says Peter Dowdall

I’ve been in my element these last few months admiring herbaceous borders and perennial plants in gardens throughout Ireland. It’s a great time of the year and the season where, as gardeners, it seems that all our efforts are

focused.

The summer is when everything is at full tilt and we run the risk of missing something if we’re not paying attention every day. I recently saw some great Inula magnifica specimens growing in pride of place in one of these borders. I haven’t seen it growing in a long time and it stopped me and reminded me of why it should be planted. It looks stunning, standing there in all its yellow and green glory.

I have planted Inula magnifica many times before in many gardens including my own, but not for years and it’s so long I think mine must have wandered off to another garden like an errant child.

You see unlike many perennials which will clump up and become a larger presence in the garden each year, Inula is what is referred to as a traveller. What that means is that it moves from where you first plant it.

The clump does increase in size over the first few years but then it begins to die out in the centre and the energy coming through the root system seems to focus itself on the growth towards the outside until you find you have several clumps in an ever increasing non-uniform circle and nothing where you first planted it.

From that point of view, Inulas can be a bit tiresome for the exacting gardener but if you’re more like this gardener who is happy enough for his plants to make themselves at home, so long as they are not upsetting anyone else, then they are a great addition to the late summer garden.

If, however you do nothing with them you will, like me, fail to see them after a number of years and while they may have made their way into a neighbouring garden, its far more likely that they simply ran out of steam. That expanding circle like a ripple in a rockpool eventually loses all energy and becomes flat. I would advise lifting clumps after a few years and replanting them in good soil and feed them with good, quality-enriched compost to ensure a continued presence.

When you do lift them and replant them, just remember that they will grow up to two metres in height and that circle will expand easily to 2 metres in width. So, do leave the right amount of space for them.

As with all plants, the effect they will give will, to a large degree, be determined by what you plant them with. Use something complimentary such as the Black Eyed Susan, Rudbeckia ‘Goldstrum’ and yellow/orange Crocosmias for a nice soft and gentle effect, mixing in some Bronze Fennel for a nice foliage effect and the yellow flowers of this will further add to the combination. For fun and a spectacular display try growing some annual sunflowers in the middle of a clump of Inula. If the clump is too dense to allow you to plant into the middle, then you can always grow the sunflowers in a pot and place them in amongst the Inula flowers.

Alternatively go for a much more dramatic and jarring display by using contrasting colours such as blue Agapanthus or navy Aconitum or perhaps purple Phlox. Neither approach is correct over the other, it simply depends on the desired effect you want.

Often referred to as the Giant Fleabane, it was historically used for dysentery and ulcers. The most we might use it for now however is as an insect deterrent. Burn the leaves and the smoke will repel flies and fleas. It’s closely related to the Mexican fleabane, that lovely little Erigeron with the small daisy flowers that we often see growing out of walls and growing wild in gravel areas. It’s of the same family as asters and daisies which is no surprise when you see its daisy-like pure yellow flowers. Unlike the Erigeron or Mexican form, which will grow happily from a crack in an old stone wall, Inulas like to be in a sunny position in a rich soil which will retain water, but these flower stems will get tall and they may need staking and support if your site is any way windy.