Poppies

You could just grow a bed of poppies and be happy! Wonderful cultivars include ‘Black Beauty’, which has dark, almost black, peony-like blooms, and ‘Victoria Cross’, which has fringed red petals and a white cross in the centre. Their seed pods look beautiful as well — a particularly distinctive variety is ‘Hens and Chicks’, where the central pod is surrounded by baby pods. Sow: March

Flowers: June to September Height: 0.5–1m