Ulting Wick in August

In front of the house, borders of late-flowering perennials ebb and flow around a gravel driveway. These borders were replanted in 2010 with drought tolerant herbaceous plants, following some hot, dry summers in which the original planting scheme struggled. Only the original box balls and Irish yews remain, adding structure amongst phlomis, salvias, sedums, catmint, verbascums and toadflax — Beth Chatto’s gravel garden is near here, a great source of inspiration. To each side of the front door, pots of sun-lovers are arranged — bananas, aeonium, perilla and rudbeckias. Dahlias feature prominently, especially dark-leaved varieties such as ‘Waltzing Mathilda’, ‘Bishop of Auckland’ and ‘Ludwig Helfert’, along with other late-flowering plants such as salvias, verbenas, persicarias, marigolds, tithonias, rudbeckias, tagetes and cosmos.