The hot colours of summer can be hard to come by in spring but perennial geums provide sizzling shades in spades, taking over when my spring bulbs fade

A DOZEN SPRING HOTTIES

1 Aquilegia chrysantha is an old-style granny’s bonnet with a difference. Its dainty, apple-green, almost maidenhair fern-like foliage is topped with tall yellow and tangerine flowers with swept-back spurs.

2 Soldier poppies ( Papaver rhoeas) seed best in disturbed soil. To distribute the seed, shake the dried pods in summer, then lightly rake or dig over the soil to improve your chances of a good crop of seedlings. 3 With frilly, flaming orange flowers, Geum ‘Fire Storm’ (Living Fashion) is a bold companion for spring bulbs, as it erupts into bloom as the daffodils fade. 4 Should you ever see an old-fashioned tall abutilon for sale, buy it! Chinese lantern shrubs flower from late winter in the shade of an old oak tree by my lawn. 5 Calendulas are tough, colourful and edible potted colour. 6 The old British standard, Geum ‘Mrs J. Bradshaw’ clumps down low but sends up 60cm flowering stems. Hardy and reliable. 7 Geum ‘Fire Storm’ (Living Fashion) is an equally zingy but more compact version of its big sister ‘Fire Ball’. 8 As a groundcover or in a pot or basket, Bidens ‘Goldilocks Rocks’ (Proven Winners) excels itself. Not only do my plants smother themselves with golden daisies, they hang over the edge of a retaining wall, showering seeds into the gravel path below. 9 California poppies ( Eschscholzia californica) add a splash of orange under my plum trees. For a pink/red blend, sow the ‘Thai Silk’ mix (Kings Seeds). 10 Drought-tolerant Gaillardia ‘Arizona Apricot’ (Kings Seeds) is a charming peachy-yellow variety. 11 The original two-toned blanket flower, Gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun’. 12 Don’t be in a rush to pull out your last winter brassicas if they bolt to seed: the nectar-rich flowers are a welcome nectar source for bees and beneficial insects.