Summer flowers
Q Can you tell me what flower is in my mum’s garden? DAVID HOARE, BY EMAIL
A Usually grown as a half-hardy annual, Nicotiana sylvestris is a lovely plant with tall stems and tubular, white, fragrant flowers from summer into autumn. Plants can act as a perennial and survive the winter in sheltered places and well-drained soils. In some gardens, early-flowering plants might self seed. H1.5m (5ft) S50cm (20in)
Q Would this plant seen in France survive in the UK? WILLIAM PHILLIPS, BY EMAIL
A Asphodeline lutea or king’s spear is native to the Mediterranean area. An attractive perennial with grey-blue strappy leaves and large starry yellow flowers June–July on 1m (3ft 3in) stems, it prefers a sunny spot and well-drained soil. It is fully hardy in the UK and can be propagated from the clusters of green cherry-like fruits that form and later dry to brown.
Q Bees adore this monster plant. What is its name? KAY PAULIEN, BY EMAIL
A Eryngium giganteum is a biennial sea holly called ‘Miss Willmott’s ghost’. It thrives in sun and bears magnificent silver and green marbled spiny leaves with silvery-white flower cones adorned with silvery ruffs June–Aug (H90cm/3ft S30cm/12in). It self-seeds abundantly but the young plants have soft, green leaves, completely unlike the spiny leaves on the mature plant. They can be left in situ or potted up and grown on.
Q Which plant has popped up in my butterfly border? JEAN ELLIS, BY EMAIL
A Floweirng Aug–Sept in sun or semi-shade, this is a crocosmia or monbretia – probably the cultivar ‘Lucifer’ with brilliant scarlet flowers. It grows from a corm and spreads by underground shoots. H1.2m (4ft) S8cm (3in).
Q Can you identify this strange plant? PAMELA HUMPHREYS, BY EMAIL
A Carthamnus or safflower is a hardy annual with bright orange thistle-like flowers. You can dry them to use as a substitute for saffron. H90cm (3ft) S30cm (12in).
Q What are these red flowers that have self-seeded from last year? HELEN CERI, BY EMAIL
A Loving a damp, cool spot, mimulus or monkey flowers can be annuals or perennials, but even the perennials are not long lived. However, they
will self seed where happy. H60cm (2ft) S40cm (16in).