PLANT YOUR BORDER
To keep all the plants in this combination happy, you need to provide soil that’s well-drained enough to accommodate the verbascum and nassella, but with enough humus to hold onto moisture to suit the cirsium and astrantia. Break up compacted ground and remove any perennial weeds, then spread plenty of well-rotted organic matter right across the border with extra grit on heavy clay soil. Lay out all the plants to check you’re happy with the spacing, then work off boards to plant them if your soil is heavy clay. Mulch after planting.
1 Plant the fennel & nassella
Forming the foliage backdrop to the planting, these two feathery plants are worth establishing in generous numbers. Both appreciate good drainage so aim to lighten their planting area if necessary. Place the nassella at the front of the planting so you can stroke its hair-like flowers when passing. Both plants will self-sow, but remove the fennel flowers if it gets too over-enthusiastic. It makes a magnificent winter skeleton – just cut back the old fennel stems in spring and comb through the nassella with your hands to remove old leaves and flowering stems.
2 Add the cirsium
Ornamental brook thistles are the colour superstars of this planting and, if your pockets are deep enough, plant half a dozen to provide a sumptuous look. Add extra organic matter to give them the damp, fertile conditions they like but be careful not to bury the low rosette of leaves when planting. Deadhead to encourage more flowers and divide plants in autumn or spring just as they’re starting into growth.
3 Bring in the verbascum
‘Firedance’ has dusky copper and rust-red flowers that are really unusual, so plant three or more to be sure they stand out. Be careful not to smother their low rosettes of foliage with soil or mulch. Keep deadheading so they continue to flower.
4 Plant the pimpinella
This pretty umbellifer deserves to be more widely known. Insects love its flowers, which offer a range of faded pinks as they age. Bring it towards the border front and contrast its pale clouds with the softness of the nassella. You can establish plants in autumn or spring, or grow them from seed (they need a cold spell to germinate). They will self-sow, but you might have to hold back on the mulching to give them the opportunity.
5 Add the astrantia
Give the petite astrantia a front-of-border placement to ensure it doesn’t get lost. It also prefers a soil that remains moist. Cut back the first lot of flowers once they’re going over to encourage a second flush. Divide established plants in autumn or spring.
6 Sow the eschscholzia
Finish the border by clearing away a patch of mulch in which to sow the eschsholzia. Sow them direct on the soil surface (they don’t like to be buried) in April or May and thin seedlings to 10cm (4in). In future years you’ll find they self-sow, usually targeting particularly well-drained spots. They don’t like being transplanted so, if you want them in an exact position, sow them into it. Deadheading and cutting back plants usually persuades them to flower again later that year. If there are dry spells during the first year, it’s worth watering the whole border occasionally but deeply.