It's not unusual for gardens to suffer burnout at the end of a long, hot summer. A combination of high temperatures, strong winds, and low rainfall can render plants tired, dull and untidy at the end of an extended growing season. Exhausted annuals, nearing the end of their natural life, focus on setting seed to secure the next generation. Perennials grow tall, exposing their tatty lower quarters before flopping artlessly across pathways or careening into their neighbours. This year, in particular, drought has caused deciduous trees and shrubs to drop their leaves prematurely and berries to ripen early - a natural reaction to drought. Still, the result looks like autumn has arrived early.
If you’ve returned from a well-earned summer break to find your garden has lost its mojo, don’t lose heart and sit the next two months out before putting your garden to bed. Hotter, drier summers are now the norm, so reset your expectations and don’t just focus on late spring and early summer when English gardens are typically at their best - you have a whole new season to embrace, and it’s called autumn.
There are just three steps to reviving and sustaining your garden into autumn: start with a quick spruce up, followed by a generous feed and water, then plug any gaps with autumn-flowering perennials and spring-flowering bulbs that will bring you joy for many years to come.
Here’s a little more detail:
Step 1 - Tame the Beast!
Late summer gardens adopt a shaggy silhouette, and that’s fine, to a point. But when you can no longer walk along paths and your plants are white with mildew, the hands-off approach loses its appeal. Besides, it’s far too soon to be giving up and heading inside to hibernate.
The first thing to do is to smarten up your garden.
-
Mow your lawn, if you have one, and remember to set the mower blades high if the weather is dry. Leaving your lawn longer will avoid stressing the grass and leaving bare patches.
-
Cut areas of long grass or wildflower meadow using shears or a scythe, if you know how to use one safely. By the end of August, most wildflowers will have shed their seed, and it’s safe to remove the tall growth before it collapses into a dense, suffocating mat. For additional advice on sowing and maintaining a wildflower meadow, click here.
-
Trim hedges and topiary. We’re safely out of nesting season, and if you cut now, there will be minimal regrowth before winter. Make sure your shears are clean and sharp before you begin. For more advice on trimming hedges, click here.
-
Gather up fallen leaves and fruit. Carpets of crisp leaves add to the sense that autumn has arrived early, so gather them up and use them as mulch on nearby beds and borders, or pop them on your compost between layers of grass clippings or deadheads. Pick up fallen fruit to avoid attracting vermin - use what you can and compost the rest.
-
Deadhead faded flowers. Not only will this smarten up your garden, but it will also encourage plants to produce more flower buds. In the case of varieties that don’t rebloom, they’ll invest their energy in creating new roots and shoots. For more advice on deadheading, click here.
-
Pull out exhausted annuals. Flowers such as cornflower, Nigella and corncockle that bloom in early summer are likely to be dry and unsightly by now. Save any seeds you need for resowing and compost the rest. You'll need the space they release for planting spring bulbs in September and October.
-
Cut back perennials that have bloomed and which don't have attractive seed heads that you'll want to keep for winter interest. This will prevent excessive self-seeding, and whilst you may not get another flush of flowers this year, the plants will have a chance to produce mounds of fresh foliage before winter.
Step 2 - Water, Feed and Mulch
The summer of 2025 has been arid and warm. To inject life back into your beds and borders, you should water, feed and mulch, in that order.
-
Water wisely. We’re all conscious of the need to use less water in our homes and gardens, but plants need it to grow. Lush, healthy plants fix more carbon from the atmosphere and look better, too. When you get back from your holiday, give any plants that look pale and wan a good soak - and I mean a whole watering can full of water, not a quick sprinkle! Watering in the evening is most effective, giving plants all night to take up what they need before the sun returns to dry out the soil surface. For more advice on watering, click here.
-
Feed pots and containers regularly. Bought-in compost contains only enough nutrients to sustain plants for 4-6 weeks. Chances are that the plants in containers you filled in May are starving by now if you haven’t remembered to feed them. If your hanging baskets and pots are looking tired, deadhead, cut back any straggly bits, and give them a diluted liquid feed. Only do this if the compost is already moist to help your plants take up precious nutrients. You should continue feeding weekly until the end of September. Feeding will boost the performance of tender perennials such as dahlias, begonias, salvias and cannas, and prolong the flowering period of annuals such as cosmos, helping them bloom for at least another 2 months.
-
Whenever you prune a plant or shrub, help it recover quickly by giving it a hearty water and feed immediately afterwards. A combination of a slow-release fertiliser such as blood fish and bone, and a good quality liquid seaweed feed will boost the plants' vigour and help establish a strong root system before colder weather arrives.
-
Mulch like mad to lock moisture and nutrients into the soil. You can use a variety of organic materials, including spent potting compost, homemade compost, bark chippings, wool, and straw. Make sure your mulch is at least 5cm deep to suppress weed growth.
Step 3 - Fill The Gaps
A gap in the garden is a golden opportunity to grow something new. Rather than leaving unsightly spaces, consider filling vacant plots with plants that bloom in late summer and autumn. Specialist plant fairs continue until early October, and these are ideal places to buy a wide range of good-quality plants in their prime. (You’ll find me at some of the in the South East - click here to find out which ones) There is no shame in filling gaps with plants such as rudbeckias, salvias, dahlias, Japanese anemones and chrysanthemums, which will flower unrelentingly until the first frosts. Don't forget grasses, such as miscanthus and pennisetum, which, whilst not showy, create a hazy backdrop for brighter blooms. Here are a few of my favourite late summer / early autumn-flowering plants, all of which have Awards of Garden Merit from the RHS.
-
Verbena bonariensis AGM - adored equally by gardeners, garden designers and pollinators, Verbena bonariensis is a tall, slim perennial that produces clusters of tiny purple flowers atop slender stems for months without blocking views through a border. Dotted through grasses or partnered with heleniums and crocosmia, it makes a very stylish statement. Drought-tolerant and grows in any soil. Will self-seed, but extras are always welcome!
-
Oenothera lindheimeri AGM - formerly known as Gaura lindheimeri, this is another diaphonous perennial that produces wand-like stems covered in small white or pink flowers. Planted near Hylotelephium (sedums), it creates a delicate counterpoint. Allowed to flop over early-flowering perennials, it's a good way to disguise plants you've already cut back. Drought-tolerant and prefers a light, well-drained soil.
-
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' AGM - when allowed to carpet large areas, which it will obligingly do, this handsome coneflower will produce a dazzling display of deep yellow flowers with a characteristic dark eye from the end of July until the end of September. It will grow well in any soil, provided it's given full sun, and looks very much at home with all the other plants on this list. Yellow haters won't like it, but to me it's pure joy.
-
Salvia 'Amistad' AGM - a relatively new introduction, Salvia 'Amistad' is a stately, tender perennial for the back of a border or an enormous pot. It produces spikes of purple flowers that emerge from striking black calyces from July until the first frosts, often soldiering on until Christmas. It grows best in a sheltered spot, but you should protect it from cold and wet over winter. Bees love it. Plant with hot pink cosmos and bright orange cannas for a dramatic autumn statement (the kind we like!).
-
Anemone japonica 'Honorine Jobert' AGM - Japanese anemones are stalwarts of the late summer garden, flowering for months, easy to grow and tough as old boots, which is why they prosper in even the most neglected gardens. Many Japanese anemones produce pink flowers, so this variety, with its single, ice-white petals clustered around a boss of golden stamens, stands out from the crowd. It will spread freely once established, so give it space and use it to flood those awkward spots in dry-semi-shade with sparkling blossoms—a gorgeous and graceful cut flower, especially with blue hydrangeas.
-
Miscanthus sinensis 'Ferner Osten' AGM - grasses, whilst not producing big, blousy flowers, bring texture, form, grace and movement to the late summer garden. Miscanthus sinensis 'Ferner Osten' produces grassy stems up to 1.5m tall, each topped with a tassle-like plume which begins deep red, before fading to pink and then silver. The stems can be left in situ until late winter / early spring and look magical, rhymed with frost. Very hardy and wind resistant, but needs full sun.
Autumn light is soft and mellow, bringing out the lustre of richer colours such as gold, bronze, orange, burgundy, ruby red and purple. Choose these over the pastels of early summer. White flowers are also precious as the days shorten, their blooms remaining visible as the evening light dims.
If you don’t have the time, inclination or budget to invest in new plants in late summer, now is the ideal time to direct sow hardy annuals such as cornflowers, Californian poppies, nigella and calendula, which will bloom early next spring. It’s also the perfect time to buy spring-flowering bulbs, before the most popular varieties and best quality bulbs sell out.