Derry Watkins
Author and plants person Derry is the owner of Special Plants Nursery in Wiltshire, where she grows unusual plants from all over the world.
1 Oenothera lindheimeri
‘Whirling Butterflies’
This hardy perennial can also be grown as an annual in the UK, being susceptible to the wet. A beautiful and graceful plant, it gets its name from its fluttering, white flowers. For the best results, sow in autumn and overwinter in a cold frame or with shelter from rain. 80cm. RHS H4, USDA 5a-9b.
2 Papaver somniferum single white-flowered
Poppies are the divas of the June garden. Elegant and luxurious, they tower over many perennials. This icy, laundry-white form shines out across the garden. If you grow only one cultivar, the following year’s self-seeded plants should all be the same. 1.2m. RHS H5.
3 Nemophila menziesii ‘Penny Black’ Forms a low, creeping mound of svelte, black flowers outlined in white. It self-seeds but not as aggressively as its yellow cousin, the poached egg plant. Sow some more in March to start blooming as the summersown plants fade. 15cm. RHS H5.
4 Geranium pyrenaicum ‘Bill Wallis’ Technically a short-lived perennial, this geranium will flower the following summer if sown outside in autumn (it needs cold to germinate). It will self-seed happily, weaving its way through the border with a billow of tiny, intensely violet flowers. 30cm. RHS H6.
5 Omphalodes linifolia
Produces a delicate cloud of pure-white, forget-me-not-shaped flowers from April through June. It likes the sunniest and driest of positions and will self-seed there year after year, making a mound of fine, blue-grey foliage. 40cm. AGM. RHS H3.
6 Salvia viridis ‘Marble Arch Blue’
Grown not for its flowers, but for its bracts, which look like soft-blue leaves and remain long after the tiny flowers have fallen. 40cm. RHS H5.
7 Nicotiana mutabilis
An aptly named plant whose airy clouds of flowers change colour from white to pink. It can act as an annual or biennial. Autumnsown seeds will form towering plants in summer, but you will have to protect the young plants from slugs, so they are best grown in a cold frame. 1.5m. RHS H2.