Marvellous mallow

The annual mallow Malope trifida ‘Vulcan’ (above) is an easy cottage-garden favourite to raise, with silky, trumpet-shaped, magenta-pink blooms and pretty Chinese lantern-like buds that keep coming all summer. It grows obligingly bushy and the cut flowers last well. Sow the seeds directly now in a line (only lightly cover them) and thin to about 30cm apart. Priced £1.95 for 70 seeds from Sarah Raven; the white version, Malope trifida ‘Alba’, is equally lovely at £1.95 for 500 seeds (0345 092 0283; sarahraven.com).