FEEL EXCITEMENT

My gardening guru Christopher Lloyd expressed the opinion that a good clash was worth a hundred safe harmonies. Sometimes, colour can wake you up, shake you up and set your heart racing. There is a wealth of drama queens ready to push their way to the front, vying with each other for prime position.“Look at me,” say the dahlias. “No, no, look at ME!” say the cannas and salvias, each one striking a pose.

To create combinations, associations or even battles between plants is not what every gardener would want, but for the adventurous and experimental among us, it might be the target to aim for.

Sounds anarchic? No rules apply? On the contrary, to achieve such an end, a great deal of thought and planning needs to happen. Far from throwing in everything willy-nilly, each constituent must be understood: When does it flower? Who will it be next to? And on the other side…? A magenta salvia, such as S. involucrata, makes an altogether more dramatic impact mingling with orange tithonia than ever it could partnered with a purplypink echinacea. Bring a big purple cactus dahlia into the picture and we have lift-off.

The volume of colour is critical, too. It is not just how vibrant the flower colour of a particular plant is, but how much of it is present. Selecting varieties renowned for their flower-power is all-important – a long flowering season helps prolong the ecstasy.

IN THE MOOD Canna ‘Durban’

The magnificent oval leaves of this canna are drawn to a sharp, pinched point painted in deep, opulent purple, striped along the veins, and parallel to them, with rich, raspberry pink. The midribs of the leaves and the stems are also pink, supporting, late in the season, flowers of unexpectedly brilliant orange.

F Jun-Sep H x S 1.6m x 50cm Salvia guaranitica

‘Black and Blue’

Salvia guaranitica, particularly its form ‘Black and Blue’, is an astonishing plant that can easily grow past shoulder height in a season. Its only drawback is that it may start to give a display of its magnificent hooded blue flowers, wrapped in their coal-black bracts, just as the first frosts start to bite.

F Aug-Oct H x S 2.5m x 90cm

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’

This is the most well-known and, deservedly, popular of all crocosmias. It’s the first to flower and probably the tallest, too. Bred by plantsman extraordinaire Alan Bloom, who raised so many wonderful plants, its flowers are pure, searing vermilion.

F Aug-Sep H x S 1.2m x 50cm