EASY-GROW FAVOURITES
Perfect for a cutting patch, these fab annuals can be sown direct into well-raked soil once the ground has warmed.
On tall, slim stems with ferny foliage, in an array of colours from white to deep burgundy, cosmos are a must, flowering their heads off for months on end. Two to try: white-streaked crimson ‘Velouette’; ‘Cupcakes White’, with pure white bowl-shaped blooms (both sarahraven.com).
Yes, you can buy dahlia plants in bud at the garden centre! Seek out daisy-petalled, single-flowered types that bring in bees, like magenta ‘Roxy’ and postbox-red ‘Bishop of Llandaff’.
The favourite marigold of garden designers, Calendula officinalis ‘Indian Prince’ (pictured) has burnt orange flowers backed with rich crimson. Once you’ve sown this, it’ll pop up everywhere, even in poor soil (mr-fothergills.com). Love-in-a-mist’s seed pods are as covetable as the flowers. Sow in spring for hazy blue flower drifts in summer, or in autumn for early flowers the following year. For double the delight, alternate ripples of sky-blue ‘Miss Jekyll’ with midnight blue Nigella hispanica (sarahraven.com).
TOP TIP Make extra growing space – and add loads of charm – by adding an arch or two across a path or plot, then coaxing climbers to cover them in a season by sowing seed at the bases. Try apricot-flowered ‘Sunset’ runner beans (dobies.co.uk); deep blue sweet pea ‘Lord Nelson’ (chilternseeds.co.uk), or climbing courgette ‘Black Forest’ (thompson-morgan.com).