Plant Solutions. Nigel Colborn

      Season of interest: Late spring, early summer

      Height and spread: Up to 2m × 60cm (6ft 6in × 2ft)

      Companion plants: Excellent for woodland planting or to fill spaces between shrubs. Foxgloves are also lovely in cottage-style gardens, alongside cranesbills, old fashioned roses or with columbines.

      Smyrnium perfoliatum

      Biennial

      A biennial with branched, winged stems and from mid-spring, showy, bract-like leaves which surround the flower umbels and are a vivid golden green. Lovely with the light coming through them, but this is an invasive plant which seeds a little too freely.

      Soil preference: Any, not too damp

      Aspect: Sun or shade

      Season of interest: Spring

      Height and spread. 1m × 45cm (3ft 3in × 1ft 6in)

      Companion plants: Good for filling up spaces below trees, or allowing to spread with such other umbelliferous plants as sweet cicely or cow parsley. Also handsome when planted with red tulips, or with purple honesty Lunaria annua.

      Hesperis matronalis

      Dames Violet, Sweet Rocket Biennial or shortlived perennial

      Cabbage family member with narrow leaves held on stout flower spikes that are topped with generous clusters of four-petalled fragrant blooms, the perfume being especially strong at twilight. Colours range from white, through pale mauve to soft purple. Replace flowered plants with self-sown seedlings.

      Soil preference: Any, moist

      Aspect: Sun or part shade

      Season of interest: Spring, early summer

      Height and spread: 1m × 30cm (3ft × 1ft)

      Companion plants: A lovely species whose pale colours which show up well in poor light, and which go well with such bolder-hued early perennials as lupins, campanulas or even oriental poppies.

Biennials for summer

      Campanula medium

      Canterbury Bells Hardy biennial

      The showiest of all bell flowers, with rough-textured, simple leaves and thick, ribbed stems. The stems develop into generously endowed spikes whose huge, tubular bell flowers may be shades of blue, pink or white. ‘Cup and saucer’ varieties have a bell flower resting on a petal-like, coloured calyx. Double-flowered varieties are available from seed catalogues.

      Soil preference: Well-drained

      Aspect: Sun

      Season of interest: Summer

      Height and spread: 1m × 50cm (3ft × 1ft 8in)

      Companion plants: A perfect cottage plant, showy but in gentle colours and along with sweet Williams, ideal for bridging the gap between spring and midsummer, following on from wallflowers. Beautiful with roses!

      Salvia farinacea

      Mealy Sage Tender biennial

      Technically a perennial, but grown as a tender biennial or annual, the leaves are glossy but the flower stems are coated with a white mealy substance. The lipped flowers, produced throughout summer, are purple, blue or white. Salvia farinacea ‘Victoria’ is a popular bedding plant.

      Soil preference: Any, fertile but free-draining

      Aspect: Sun

      Season of interest: Summer

      Height and spread: 1m × 60cm (3ft × 3 ft)

      Companion plants: Attractive when included in a tropical mix, perhaps with cannas, bold grasses such as Chasmanthium or ornamental sorghums.

      Ratibida columnifera

      Mexican Hat Biennial or shortlived perennial

      A member of the daisy family from Mexico, with divided leaves and erect stems bearing flowers whose broad, yellow, or red and yellow sterile ray florets surround an extended central cone. Viewed from the side, these Rudbeckia relatives resemble the sombreros worn by Mexican bandits in cowboy films.

      Soil preference: Any well-drained, but not too dry

      Aspect: Sun

      Season of interest: Summer

      Height and spread: 60cm × 45m (2ft × 1ft 6in)

      Companion plants: A delightful cottage garden plant whose shape contrasts well with campanulas, delphiniums or with perennial asters.

      Lysimachia atropurpurea

      Hardy biennial or shortlived perennial

      A striking, if somewhat sparse growing species with pewter-suffused foliage when young and, during mid-summer, narrow spikes of deep purple-red flowers which contrast with the grey-green tones of the leaves. From the distance, the flowers look black and disappear, but close-to, especially if used as cut flowers, they are superb.

      Soil preference: Fertile, free-draining

      Aspect: Sun

      Season of interest: Summer

      Height and spread: 45cm × 30cm (1ft 6in × 1 ft)

      Companion plants: Best planted with light-coloured foliage plants such as Artemisia ludoviciana or Convolvulus cneorum so that the sombre blooms can make a strong contrast.

      Oenothera biennis

      Evening Primrose Biennial

      Broad, pointed leaves form loose rosettes producing, in their second year, tall, somewhat lax stems with large pale yellow blooms that open at twilight and are spent by the following midday. May be a nuisance self-seeder, but a late summer delight.

      Soil preference: Any

      Aspect: Sun or part shade

      Season of interest: Summer

      Height and spread: 1.2m × 45cm (4ft × 1ft 6in)

      Companion plants: One to dot about or allow to come up where it will in an informal planting scheme. Especially good among the soft mauves, purples and blues of perennial asters or in a late season annual border.

      Scabiosa atropurpurea

      Mournful Widow, Egyptian Rose Biennial