Best of the bunch

WALLFLOWERS (Erysimum)

Wallflowers – with their clusters of sulphur yellow, burnt orange, burgundy and deep red flowers – make great plant partners with tulips and other late springflowering bulbs.

Some are grown as perennials, others are used as biennial bedding plants.

Left alone, they will live for several years, but can become woody and leggy with age.

They look their best in sunny borders, where their vibrant colours will shine, and prefer well-drained neutral or slightly alkaline soil.

Good varieties include E. ‘Blood Red’, which produces vivid deep red flowers in spring, or the zingy yellow ‘Moonlight’, which makes a terrific subject for a dry wall or rock garden.