Flower & plant growing guide for September

Planting flowers in September is a great idea as you can make use of the empty parts of your garden, and you are saving yourself time on spring planting. There are plenty of flowers that you can plant in the UK in the month of September, including hardy plants and other varieties that will bloom in a matter of weeks.

If you love gardening, but you struggle with your mobility and need to use aids such as stairlifts, you can always ask a friend or a relative to give you a helping hand. Gardening is a great activity to get involved in, as it provides a wonderful outlet for stress and anxiety.

Jill Brooke, the editorial director at Flower Power Daily, shared some more benefits of gardening as well as tips for those of you who are inexperienced gardeners.

“I have a gardening saying I wrote which is ‘Even rainbows know the sky is the limit. Be both the pragmatist and dreamer.’ I know that when you see a beautiful flower, you fall in love and just want it - as though your passion will coax a bloom to behave. However, any time you argue with reality - you will lose. Gardeners - especially new ones - have to be practical because you won’t succeed without carefully reading the instructions of how a flower survives and thrives. Don’t think just because you are an optimist that a flower will bloom in the shade when the label says plant in sun.

“Daffodils require sun for example. Not shade. However, they are very agreeable to all types of soil which is a bonus. But other flowers require good soil so test your dirt and if needed, add nutrition you can buy from a nursery to improve it.  Then you will get the results you want to start this lifelong journey and make your garden a laboratory of discovery and learning each year. Also spacing is more important than you think. Read the instructions. Flowers need room to breathe and grow. And if instructions say plant six inches, it will not respond if the hole you dig is 3 inches. For beginners, read the instructions and follow them. It’s like a recipe from Ina Garten. You follow the instructions for good results and then in time, you can spice up your garden with other ingredients but always stick to the basics.”

Read on to find out what plants and flowers you can start planting in September as well as read other gardening tips from experts.

Flowers to plant in September

• English Marigold
• Cornflower
• Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena)
• Poppies
• Daffodils and crocus
• Hyacinths

English Marigold

Officially named Calendula officinalis, the English Marigold flower has vibrant orange petals which are great for planting into a border.

The plant is easy to grow and by planting it in September or in the autumn, you can expect it to flower from May. When sowing it you should put the seeds directly into shallow drills or plant them into pots using peat-free compost.

Carol Bartlett, the founder of the Sunday Gardener blog, recommends buying Marigolds and planting them in the summer: “Summer bedding plants are big gardening business, and with so many to choose from it's a dazzling array. Mostly, it is a personal choice as to what suits you and your garden. Very popular are soft pastels colours with baskets of petunia, verbena, lobelia and silver foliage plants such as Cineraria Silverdust. In contrast are strong primary oranges, yellows and reds of Begonia and Marigolds.”

However, the Sunday Gardener does recommend keeping an eye out for slugs as they seem to like the taste of Marigolds: “Some bedding plants are very attractive to slugs, others less so.  You may want to select easy-to-grow slug-resistant bedding. Those which are slug magnets are petunia, bizzie lizzies (Impatiens,) verbena, pansies, and the most attractive of all to slugs, marigolds.”

ALSO READ: Flower & plant growing guide for August

Cornflower

Cornflower, officially named Centaurea cyanus, can often be found growing in meadows across the UK, but it is now a very popular plant to grow in the garden.

The most common type of Cornflower that is grown in the UK is blue, but it can also grow in red, pink, white and dark purple flowers. By sowing the plant in September, you will often find that it will start to grow in early spring.

Love The Garden, an expert gardening website, talks a bit about how to grow Cornflower plants: “Cornflowers grow and flower best in sunny positions. They need a fertile soil enriched with lots of organic matter, which holds plenty of moisture in spring and summer, doesn’t dry out or become waterlogged.

“Sow seeds from March to May outdoors for flowers from June to September, or sow during August and September to flower slightly earlier the following year.

“Sow seeds thinly in finely raked, moist soil where you want the plants to flower, at a depth of 13mm (½in) covering the seeds lightly with soil. Water the soil during dry periods.

“Thin the seedlings in stages to 15-23cm (6-9in) apart when they’re large enough to handle.”

ALSO READ: Flower & plant growing guide for March

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena)

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) is a flower that can be planted in September and is one that blooms in spring or early summer. The plant originates from southern Europe and northern Africa and in its native habitat, it tends to grow in fields or on rocky ground.

The medium-sized plant can grow up to a foot wide and up to 20 inches in height. The colour of the flowers usually ranges from bright blue to pale blue, but you can find varieties that are white, pink, or even lavender.

In September you can sow seeds in modules for planting out later or directly into the ground or in pots. These types of flowers are a favourite in cottage gardens, but they are fairly hardy plants and can grow on roadsides or along walls.

Poppies

This is a popular flower to grow in the garden and it can be sown in September, early summer or during the autumn months. Gardeners should look to sow them directly on patches of bare soil or in seed trays so they can be planted out in spring.

Poppies will thrive in moist, well-draining soil and do best in sunny areas of your garden. You will need to check what type of poppy you have bought as each variety likes to grow in slightly different conditions.

Field poppies prefer drier, poorer soils, whilst Himalayan poppies grow best in moist, more acidic soils and prefer shadier areas of a garden. If you are growing poppies in your garden, you should try to pick off the deadheads as this can prolong flowering.

ALSO READ: Flower & plant growing guide for January

Daffodils and crocus

September is a great time to plant spring-flowering Daffodils and you should look to cultivate the bulbs en masse for a stunning spring show.

Daffodils are famed for their colours, which range from the iconic yellow ones to white and pink. If you want to add even more colour to your garden, you should look at planting crocus bulbs alongside your daffodils in September.

Daffodils and crocus bulbs can be planted in borders, flower beds, containers or other plant pots and after a long winter, the crocus flowers and daffodils are a welcome sight as they are a symbol of spring arriving. There are certain varieties of crocus and daffodils that can flower in autumn.

Jill Brooke from Flower Power Daily told us planting daffodils in September is a great idea: “Considering that in the language of flowers, daffodils symbolize rebirth and new beginnings, start with the daffodil. Not only are these happy flowers durable as well as disease and deer resistant, but there are over 13,000 varieties in its family. In the fashion runway of flowers, their popularity has created so many pretty new colours - including white petals with soft pink interiors to traditional yellow with bright bolder oranges in swirling shapes. 

“Daffodils are reliably perennial - and after the effort in September - will peek out in April to give a boost of happiness and hope for your garden that has been dormant.  It also helps build confidence for the novice gardener to try other flowers.”

Hyacinths

Hyacinths are another popular garden plant that can be found growing across the UK. They can flower in a variety of colours which range from the traditional colours of pink and purple to mauve and white.

These popular flowers can be planted in September on the borders of gardens, in pots or can even be grown indoors. Gardeners who are planting their flowers outdoors in September will need to pick an area of the garden that is moist but drains well and ideally is located in a position that is in full sun from September to November.

If you have never planted Hyacinths before, it is recommended that you plant the bulbs in a hole that is roughly 10cm deep and around 8cm apart. To give the flowers the best chance, you should dig these holes and plant the bulbs when the soil is dry.

If you have opted to plant Hyacinths in pots, then the holes can be shallower and spaced closer together, but you will need to make sure that they are not touching each other.

Jill Brooke says hyacinths or tulips are other flowers which you can plant in September. She says: “Of course, there are the tulips and hyacinths that are popular fall plantings and come in a rainbow of colors. But tulips are like Haagan-Daz’ Dulce de Leche ice cream to deer and they will gobble up your tulip efforts in a flash if you don’t have fencing. Definitely a demoralizing experience. However, if protected, tulips do trigger feelings or triumph because they are so exceptionally beautiful especially the fringed tulips. I’m also a big allium fan because their lavender globe like shapes are outer worldly and bring smiles when lined up on a border.”

ALSO READ: Flower & plant growing guide for February

These are just some of the flowers and plants you can sow in September in the UK and with some expert tips about growing the different flowers, we hope they do well in your garden.

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