When the garden stops flowering, week by week

Counting 1106 flowering garden plants week by week: the year peaks in mid July, and by early October only 145 are still in flower. What to plant for the end of the season.

The count climbs slowly from the first snowdrops, steeply through May and June, to a peak in mid July, when 454 of the planner's plants are in flower at once. It holds up through August (411 at the start of the month) and then falls away fast: by early October it is down to 145, 68% fewer than at the peak.

So the end of the season is where a bed most needs planning. For every plant still flowering in early October there are three in flower in mid July, and a bed filled with whatever looked good on a summer visit to the garden centre will reflect that. The planner plants for the thin weeks on purpose: when it chooses plants for a bed, it gives extra points to one that flowers in weeks when nothing else on the plan does.

Plants for the thin weeks

Long-flowering plants in flower in early October, when the count is at its lowest after the peak:

• Groundcover rose late May to mid October
• Cranesbill 'Rozanne' early June to early October
• Abelia 'Kaleidoscope' mid June to early October
• Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' mid June to early October
• Oleander mid June to early October
• Purple fountain grass late June to mid October
• Tall verbena late June to mid October
• Feather reed grass 'Karl Foerster' late June to early October
• Dahlia mid July to mid October
• Butterfly bush 'Blue Chip' early July to early October
• Canna early July to early October
• Black-eyed Susan 'American Gold Rush' mid July to early October

See also long-flowering plants and plants that flower in fall.

The numbers

Flowering weeks are for zone 5. Spring flowers are about a week earlier for each zone warmer.

Counted from the planner's plant files when this page was made. Each plant is checked against NC State Extension, the ASPCA lists and USDA PLANTS; see each plant's page for its sources.