Five Yellow Flowers for Late Summer and Early Autumn Gardens

Five yellow flowers! I hear you exclaim. Did you think garden designers didn’t like yellow flowers?

Let’s just clear up a couple of points there.

One, you may be surprised what garden designers have in their gardens. (That’s another blog or three!)
Two, it’s your garden we’re talking about. A good garden designer will never impose their style on you; they will create a garden to suit you.
Three, well why shouldn’t you have some sun-coloured flowers to smile at you in your late summer and early autumn garden?

As we know only too well in the UK, summer is usually about showers as well as sunshine. Growing easy maintenance plants and flowers will cut down on the time you spend out in your garden getting wet whilst you deadhead in the rain again. Oh, you wait until it’s at least dry, if not actually sunny to deadhead? Fair enough.

But then conversely this year (2022) has seen and is seeing drought conditions and high temperatures. Many of our usual late summer flowering plants have had enough: they’re dry despite being watered.

Now, I can’t promise that these five yellow flowers are going to be perfect, but certainly they seem to have tolerated this year’s weather better than many. And have previously coped with wet summers. Once established these herbaceous perennials should offer you easy maintenance gardening and add a splash of sunshine to your late summer and early autumn borders.

Helianthus

The Helianthus family of plants includes the much-loved favourite annual Sunflower and the edible Jerusalem artichoke. But the Helianthus I’ve included here is the perennial Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’. Strictly speaking, this flower, given the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a tuberous perennial, but it is reliably hardy so doesn’t need digging up like a dahlia would.

Tall perennials, up to 7 feet high, they look good against a fence, and even better against an old brick wall or dark evergreen shrubs and hedges where their bright, clear yellow flowers really shine. ‘Lemon Queen’ has strong stems which rarely need staking.

Helenium

Also known as sneezewort, Helenium ‘El Dorado’, with a golden yellow flower and ‘The Bishop’ would be good choices.

Helenium readily form good sized clumps in your herbaceous flower border. Give them a good, fertile and free draining soil – especially if you’re gardening on heavy clay. Once established they’re fairly drought tolerant, which is why they’re so good in prairie style planting schemes. This of course makes them an easy maintenance gardening plant for you too!

Achillea

In particular, Achillea filpendulina ‘Cloth of Gold’. The fern-like foliage is slightly aromatic, possibly an acquired taste, so if you’re not keen plant this herbaceous perennial further back in the border.

As well as being easy maintenance, Achillea ‘Cloth of Gold’ will look good in cottage garden and wildlife gardens and is happy in coastal gardens too. For an island nation, we do sometimes have a tendency to forget how many gardeners need plants that are able to tolerate a salt laden air.

The flat, plate-like flower heads are made up of many smaller flowers or florets. Combined with its feathery foliage, we have a pleasant contrast with our first two yellow daisy flowered perennials.

Inula

Another flowering plant which is a butterfly and bee favourite, Inula hookeri forms clumps which you can plant at the back of your border and then forget about until the yellow, daisy-like flowers start blooming.

Generally, Inula prefer a damper soil. However, with plenty of home-made compost plus watering during dry spells, I have had success in growing it in sunny borders for clients. If yours is a sheltered garden then a bit of shade from the afternoon sun would be a good idea.

The feathery petals radiating out from the centre of the flower give this herbaceous perennial a soft look. Visually this is useful in the late summer garden, when many of the flowers and plants have a sturdiness about them.

Alstroemeriea

Alstroemeriea is also known as the Peruvian lily. In the case of Alstroemeriea ‘Sweet Laura’ you have the benefit of a sweetly scented yellow flower. Yes, you did read that correctly! Alstroemeriea are a favourite flower for the cutting garden and with florists but, although lovely to look at, they weren’t really scented.

Worth growing for that benefit alone, in a tub on the patio as well as in your flower border, Alstroemeriea ‘Sweet Laura’ is also reasonably tolerant of full sun. However, I would recommend giving it shade for the hottest part of the day. I grow my own placed on the patio in a good-sized pot, where it gets sun from early morning through mid-afternoon.

Planting Design Ideas

You could create a section of your herbaceous border purely for yellow flowers, to give you sunshine from mid July to the end of September.

The above plants would give you a variety of leaf and flower shapes and plant heights for interest, with the unifying yellow to pull the scheme together.

The above selection all produce blooms which are true yellow, so are perhaps not for the faint-hearted. But you could add some contrast. Be equally bold with a purple Buddleia such as ‘Dark Knight’ planted at the back. Or add drifts of feathery Verbena bonariensis throughout your yellow flowers to soften the effect.

Remember that if you are planting up new sections of your flower borders to prepare the soil first. If you have to ‘cheat’ and add peat free multi-purpose compost because there’s not much space, that’s okay; you’ll have all winter to get the soil properly fed. And yes, we have a ‘how to’ and information blogs in Plews Potting Shed to help you, links are below.

Five Yellow Flowers for Late Summer and Early Autumn

So, there are my five suggestions to keep your flower borders zinging right through until the beginning of October (weather permitting!).

Not only that, but if you were to visit a garden centre or plant nursery now, you should be find these plants for sale. Result! You don’t even have to wait until next year to have a sun filled garden that doesn’t see you reaching for the sunblock!

How else can we inspire you?

If you would like help with yellow based planting designs for your garden, we can offer themed planting designs and garden designs – why not get in touch? Or you could ask about our bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden.

And for further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below and our monthly Tipsheet – You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too!