Perennial Garden Looks Dull in September

Now that the summer is coming to a close, I'm spending more time gathering fruits and flowers, as well as clearing away dead leaves from many perennials.  I have to admit that my perennial garden doesn't look that interesting at this time of the year.  It's mostly filled with (too many) "Black-eyed Susan" s and blooms from my two Butterfly bushes.

Yuck.  I have some roses planted in there, but I hadn't pruned them for a while, so they stopped flowering. Aside from the fact that this garden needs edging and weeding badly, it also needs a lot more color!

I was blown away by the garden in Shelburne Falls!  I was always under the impression that you shouldn't mix annuals with perennials.  I don't know where I got that idea from.  The Bridge of Flowers, however, has everything:  perennials, annuals, shrubs, trees, bulbs and tubers, and vines.  And the garden is so interesting, beautiful and colorful:

I have realized, too, that I planted all my annual flowers in one spot, and that doesn't look good, either.  Even though I've been able to pick loads of flowers to fill vases, the garden looks messy and crowded:

So, next year I will spread things out a little more to give everything more space, and I will mix more of the annual flowers with the perennials. 

I'm starting to make notes of which dahlias look good with which perennials that bloom at this time of year.  For example:  dark pink dahlias planted near Russian Sage.  Also, cosmos will look nice near rudbeckia and Russian sage.

I also hope to put in some Obedient plants, even though I hear it's a pretty aggressive grower, and the Turtlehead plant.

I need to make a list of all the plants that are in bloom at this time of year, and then do some planning.  Something to dream about when the snow flies!