PLANT YOUR BORDER
Although a portion of the planting relies on annuals, the rest are perennials so before you plant anything, it pays to get the soil right first time round. Dig over the site, breaking up any compacted ground, removing perennial weeds and adding a generous layer of well-rotted organic matter and some extra grit if you’re on heavier ground. You’re after a fertile but well-drained soil. While the perennials are young, you can increase the proportion of hardy annuals to cover bare ground, altering their numbers year to year as the perennials mature.
1 Sow the hardy annuals
Cerinthe, linaria and calendula deserve a medal. They’re easy to grow, produce enormous quantities of flowers, and keep performing as long as they’re fed, watered and regularly picked. You can start them under cover in modules in March and April (they do best without root disturbance), or sow them direct outside in April and May. To get flowers really early in the year, make a September sowing, either overwintering plants directly outside if your garden is sheltered, or in a cold frame with some extra fleece to hand. Although hardy, these plants still need gradual hardening off before planting out to reduce sudden shocks. Water plants deeply during any dry spells to minimise the risk of powdery mildew and watch out for slugs and snails.
2 Add the geum and salvia
Mid-spring is a good time to establish both the geum and salvia. With their similar height these perennials work well threaded through one another further back in the planting. Water containers well before planting and improve the soil with further well-rotted organic matter as you plant. Don’t overcrowd young plants (you can always fill gaps with tiny linaria while they get established). In later years you can divide large clumps in spring to increase your stock of plants. Mulch after planting to help keep down weeds and retain moisture.
3 Thread through the melica
This delicate shimmering grass is fully hardy and deciduous. Plant in spring or autumn and cut down old foliage in February/March before new growth starts to appear. It can be difficult to track plants down so if you’re after a similar shimmering effect with a ‘droplet grass’, try direct sowing hardy annual Briza maxima (it does self-sow very generously, so keep an eye on it) or sow half-hardy annual Panicum elegans ‘Frosted Explosion’ under glass and plant out its feathered smoke-like flowers after all risk of frost has passed .
4 Finish with the alliums
Plant allium bulbs from September to November, 15cm (6in) deep, scattered randomly across the planting. Although you only get a single flower from each bulb, the globes are quite something. Leave them on the plant to enjoy a second show of green seed heads, before cutting the paper-dry stems to store in the shed until Christmas. They look spectacular sprayed silver in tall vases, or, if the stems break hang them as decorations using fine thread. Leaving the seedheads to dry in the garden means plants also have a chance to self-sow.