KEEPING a flower garden going requires a little thought and effort. Nourished and dead headed annuals and bedding plants will flower into autumn and some herbaceous perennials can be relied on to make a repeat showing provided some basic requirements are attended to. Lupins and delphiniums cut back after their high summer flowering, fed and watered, can be expected to encore in September and on into October - but for the most part the garden takes on a jaded and somewhat ragged look: long gone is the freshness and new appearance of late spring and early summer.
Perennial lobelias should charm us still with tall spires in blue, white, purple and magenta as well as rich pinks and reds a far cry from the annual lobelia of the hanging basket and its blue edging, these lobelias are probably best known through the hybrid Queen Victoria with flaming red flowers set off by coppery red foliage. There are numerous others to seek out and all repay a little fuss and care.
To do their very best, they need rich living - well prepared ground with the best rotted compost or manure. Moisture is essential too, so dry, thin soils are not for lobelias. Well grown, they are majestic and the best stands are divided every year in late spring to do their best in August and September.
Another seasonal flower which gives of its best with yearly division and attention - i.e., a bit of fuss in spring is the Bee Balm or Monarda. Like the lobelias and many of the best things for autumn, these are American natives. We do not see enough of them in flower borders perhaps because they have a habit of seeming to settle in and then disappearing in a rather ungrateful fashion.
Monarda can be grown from seed and interesting shades of purple, pink and white will result, but the best named varieties must be propagated by root division. They love the sun and grow to three or four foot high. The square stems make a thicket of sturdy growth which rarely needs staking, a nice bonus. The basal leaves looking rather like mint make a creeping, spreading mat in spring and really do need to be divided every April or May. This attention ensures vigorous new roots and keeps the plants healthy. Neglect in this results in sudden death - now you see it in full beauty, now you don't.
Fortunately, there are monardas for both dry and moist soils - by moist I do not mean by a stream side, but any enriched heavier soil which does not readily dry out. For the latter conditions, Monarda didyma is the one to seek. The cultivar Cambridge Scarlet is well known - and it lives up to its name, a real burning scarlet, not always the easiest colour to place.
Those who say they like a bit of colour and invariably mean red anything else is dismissed as washed out and pastel will be well pleased with Cambridge Scarlet. The flowers consist of a circle of small hooded florets around a dark central boss a second tier, usually smaller, is held an inch or two above. A startling red - a real crimson red on the blue side of the spectrum which I have just seen for the first time is Monardad. Garden view. It is intense and I long to try it with a pink and blue arrangement where it might bring depth and intensity to the scheme.
Other well known relatives are Croftway Pink and Beauty of Cobham. The latter is a delightful pale pink with a reddish purple ruff or collar beneath the flower. The combination of colours makes for a very telling border plant.
Monarda fistulosa will be generally content with drier soils. Numerous purple and mauve forms are available. Prairie Glow and Prairie Night are two strong rich purples. Numerous hybrids will be found in nursery lists and in garden centres so there will be plenty to experiment with. The foliage has a delightful aromatic scent and is used to make a herbal drink, oswega tea. I have not tried it; the plants are much too nice in the garden to go picking stems and messing about with.