I love all of the seasons equally because they all bring their passionate burst of interest in the garden.
Spring time because it starts to shake us from our slumber and it is almost as though our blood is replaced with sap and it rises as the days get longer and sun warmer.
I especially like to see the Peony as it's succulent red fleshy shoots emerge through the sometimes iron frosty soil or the perhaps the Sedum or Alchemilla as the due settles in the top of the new shoots making the water look like little crystal balls,
But at the other end of Summer there seems to be less to cheer about as the nights draw in and Jack Frost petrifies the last remaining growth.
The secret to prolonging the season is to plant some late colour. There could not be anything better than the hardy chrysanthemum.
This year especially as the frosts, apart from an early sharp shock, seem to have stayed away and chrysanthemums have come into their own.
The Korean, the rubellum and the Japanese semi-pompons are hardy to the British climate will flower freely through November.
Add your chrysanthemum's to a herbaceous border containing other late hardy delights such as Michaelmas daisies, rudbeckias and Verbena bonariensis.
Whilst they are capable of standing freely it is wise to stake or let the chrysanthemums grow through frames to secure them against the ravages of high winds.
Maintenance is easy. Cut back to 2 inches above the soil after flowering and mulch well with well rotted manure or leaf mould.
When the plants get to dense, lift and divide by parting the crown with the back of two forks.
Read Ursula Buchan from the Telegraph - On the spot: the best late-flowering chrysanthemums
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