For Great Returns, Grow Repeat Flowerers

Why settle for a single flush of flowers when you can have more? These budget-friendly buys offer optimum bloom for your buck, says Tamsin Hope Thomson

- Tamsin Hope Thomson

FOR many of us, 2021 is looking likely to be a year in which we feel the pinch. So looking for ways to get optimum value for money will be more important than ever. In the garden, this means getting the most from the available growing room – whatever the size of your plot. And the best way to do so is by choosing perennials, shrubs, trees and climbers that bloom more than once, or that have an especially long flowering season.

Come spring and summer, these will be the standout performers in borders and pots, earning their keep and justifying their space. But you shouldn’t wait until then to think about them. Forward planning is essential to ensure a spectacular display next year, and making a start now will pay dividends.

The term ‘repeat-flowering’ is sometimes used to describe plants that flower for a long period; but technically it means those that flower more than once in a growing season. Most gardeners will have heard of repeat-flowering roses, which bloom several times through the season, producing flushes of flowers from June until November. But there are many other plants that will perform a floral encore – hemerocallis flowers in spring and again in August, while compact ornamental cherry Prunus ‘Autumnalis’ (a favourite on these pages) blooms twice between November and March.

Extend the season