I’m sure we can all sympathise with gardeners who despair as September approaches, as it can often mean the decline of our borders as the autumn gets nearer. But it doesn’t have to be like that, September can be the culmination of the summer season with our gardens bulging with colour and texture. Including some late flowering herbaceous perennials, mixed with a few ornamental grasses ensures you can create the crescendo to summer that everyone will be envious of.

Rudbeckia is a familiar sight in late summer and autumn, they provide much needed colour to the border when other perennials are fading. Proven to be a workhorse in the garden, award-winning Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ is a highly popular choice.

This perennial plant is long-lived and reliably produces masses of rich golden yellow flowers from midsummer through to Autumn, no matter what the weather.

Rudbeckia, known in the UK as ‘Black Eyed Susan’, is a member of the Asteraceae family and we owe the existence of nearly all our popular Black Eyed Susan cultivars to species native to Northern America. The name was given by Carolus Linnaeus to honor his patron and fellow botanist at Uppsala University, Olof Rudbeck the Younger (1660–1740).

Each flower has many ray-like petals surrounding a dark brown cone in the centre and It’s spectacular when massed in drifts, this is an excellent choice for perennial borders, cottage gardens or for naturalistic planting schemes.

Rudbeckia is extremely easy to grow, plays well with other hot coloured perennials as well as the cool blues and purples of geraniums and asters. It is robust, low maintenance, highly disease resistant, doesn’t need staking and once established is also drought tolerant too.

Rudbeckia thrives in full sun or partial shade in moderately fertile, moist, well-drained soils. Best flower production occurs in full sun, although this plant will tolerate some light shade.

Its noteworthy qualities earned it the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society (1993) and the 1999 Perennial of the Year Award. It grows up to 2-3 ft. tall (60-90 cm) and 18-24 in. wide (45-60 cm) and often tends to form colonies in the wild.

Rudbeckia is excellent used with other late flowering perennials and grasses too. Try combining with Miscanthus Morning Light, Helianthus Lemon Queen, Verbena bonariensis, Salvia Purple Rain, Pennisetum Karley Rose and Helenium Moerheim beauty.

Or if you like things a little simpler why not try a big swathe of just Rudbeckia, this is one plant that is bold enough to stand alone and still pack a punch.

Jobs to do this month include:
Ornamental Garden:
• Continue to deadhead.
• Trim Lavenders to woody growth to keep them compact.
• Begin to clear leaves as necessary.
• Keep borders clear of weeds.
• Take cuttings of tender perennials.
• Continue to deadhead bedding plants.
• Plan for next year’s garden displays.
• Collect seed from perennials/hardy annuals.
• Start planting spring bulbs.
• Lift and divide herbaceous perennials.
• Start planting trees and shrubs towards the end of the month and move evergreen shrubs etc while the soil is still warm.
• Collect and get rid of any infected roses leaves.

Vegetable Garden:
• Once the tassels on sweet corn has turned brown check whether the cobs are ready to harvest. When ripe the kernels contain a milky liquid.
• Leave marrows, squashes, pumpkins etc to ripen on the plant. Place fruit on a wooden board to prevent soiling.
• Plant onions/shallots suitable for over wintering (on heavy wet soils spring planting may be preferable).
• Continue harvesting fruit.
• Harvest main crop potatoes.
• Sow winter greens such as land cress, mustard spinach, corn salad and hardy lettuce cultivars.