Blazing with colour

Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) flowers throughout summer, providing plumes of bold or pastel colours in pink, yellow, scarlet and white. Blooms open from the bottom of the flowering stalk upwards, providing extended colour which can be encouraged further by deadheading. If the flower is squeezed at the base it opens like a set of jaws, which gives it its common name. Bumblebees are among the few insects large enough to force open the petals, which then close over it as it seeks nectar, coating it in pollen. In the golden light of late summer, their colour illuminates the garden.