Enhance your summer garden with mid-summer fillers: Top plant picks

Turbo-boost your summer garden beds with strikingly colourful and easy-to-grow filler plants. These beauties are perfect when you are looking for something bold to fill gaps you might find over the summer season.

Physostegia virginiana

Also known as the obedience plants, these old-fashioned species are clumping perennials with tall spikes of light purple tubular flowers. Garden cut flowers have always been popular, but older varieties often tend to flop over and remain down, with maturing flowers fading to brown too quickly. Fortunately, good breeding practices have led to the development of modern hybrids that are more compact and well-branched. These hybrids produce numerous flower spikes that do not fade easily.

Image Credit: Pexels

Shasta daises

Shasta daisies are a favourite summer perennial because they bloom continuously and require minimal care. They come in the well-known hybrids with single white flowers, but can also be found in bright yellow hybrids. Just give them regular, but not too much watering. Pick the flowers for the vase or deadhead to keep more blooms coming.

Summer snapdragon

When looking at the delicate flower spikes of the snapdragon, it is difficult to believe they can be so tough and resilient against heat and even periods of drought. These plants flower non-stop during the summer months and are available in many ranges and colours, filling your garden beds.

pexels-viniciusvieirafotografia-34174877

Image Credit: Pexels

Black-eyed Susan

This classic summer perennial is an indispensable addition to any landscape. Exceptionally hardy, this long-lived prairie native grows in most growing zones. Combine with other mid-to-late summer bloomers such as sea holly or the bee balm, the black-eyed Susan plants stand out.

Cosmos

Even beginning gardeners will have success with this easy-care annual. The cheerful daisy-like flowers of this quintessential cottage garden favourite bloom all summer long, attracting birds and pollinators to the garden. Scatter seeds in a natural meadow, kitchen plot, or mixed border. The fluted tubular petals add a novelty element to the landscape as well as summer bouquets.