Plant Solutions. Nigel Colborn

Bulb

      Fleshy, dark green leaves emerge in early spring. Later, chunky flower buds appear and extend to form thick flower spikes in shades of pink, blue, purple, white, pale yellow and orange. Intensely fragrant. ‘L’innocence’ is a fine bedding white, ‘Delft Blue’ is mid-blue, ‘Queen of the Blues’ darker and ‘Anna Marie’ pale pink.

      Soil preference: Any free-draining

      Aspect: Sun or shade

      Season of interest: Spring

      Height and spread: Up to 25cm × 15cm (10in × 6in)

      Companion plants: Effective when bedded with winter pansies or polyanthus, but also superb when massed on their own. Fewer colours works better than a mix.

      Viola

      Winter Pansies Biennials or short-lived perennials

      Low, mound-forming plants with diamond-shaped, slightly lobed leaves. The flowers, large in proportion to the plants, are flattened, disc-shaped, sweetly fragrant and almost perpetually in flower. Colours run through blue, orange, maroon, purple, yellow, pink and white. ‘Universal’ and ‘Ultima’ series are among the most popular winter flowering varieties. Deadhead to extend flowering.

      Soil preference: Any well-drained, not too dry

      Aspect: Part shade

      Season of interest: Mainly winter but also year round

      Height and spread: Approx 15cm × 20cm (6in × 8in)

      Companion plants: Superb for long-lasting bedding, as well as for gap filling or providing winter interest in containers. Pretty with small bulbs such as Muscari, or with such spring plants as wallflowers or Aubrieta.

      Primula vulgaris

      Hybrid Primroses Perennial

      Rosette-forming with broad, deeply veined, oval leaves and from winter through spring, a succession of five-petalled flowers. The wild species has pale yellow or flush mauve blooms but garden hybrids vary in flower size and colour. Red, blue, yellow, orange, pink and white hues are common. Sweetly fragrant. Should be divided and replanted regularly.

      Soil preference: Medium to heavy, moisture retentive

      Aspect: Shade or part shade

      Season of interest: Spring

      Height and spread: To 15cm × 20cm (6in × 8in)

      Companion plants: Attractive bedded on their own, or with such spring bulbs as Muscari, Tulipa or smaller Narcissus such as N. ‘Hawera’ for companions. Also excellent as container plants.

      Primula elatior hybrids

      Polyanthus short-lived perennials

      Leaves as primroses but the primula flowers appear in loose umbels of several blooms atop stems which may extend to 30cm. Developed from the wild oxlip, whose flowers are butter yellow, but cultivars come in all shades making them useful for colour scheming. Deadhead and remove yellowing leaves regularly. Divide annually and watch for vine weevil.

      Soil preference: Moisture retentive

      Aspect: Shade or partial shade, excellent under deciduous trees

      Season of interest: Spring

      Height and spread: Up to 30cm × 20cm (1ft × 8in)

      Companion plants: Excellent for partially shaded bedding schemes but perfectly happy in full sun when they are bedded out in autumn and lifted in late spring after flowering.

      Doronicum ‘Leopard’s Bane’

      Perennial

      Bright green, heart-shaped, slightly toothed leaves which form a basal clump as well as furnishing the flower stems. These lengthen in mid-spring, and bear big, golden daisy flowers which last into early summer. The foliage tends to burn away in hot weather.

      Soil preference: Moist but free-draining

      Aspect: Part-shade or shade. Excellent under deciduous trees

      Season of interest: Spring

      Height and spread: 30cm × 60cm (1ft × 2ft)

      Companion plants: Beautiful planted with contrasting tulips such as the scarlet ‘Apeldoorn’ or deep purple ‘Negrita’. Also interesting when teamed with aquilegias, which will extend the flowering season further into summer.

Bedding: summer flowering, full sun

      Petunia

      Petunias Perennial (frost tender)

      The most widely grown bedding plant, worldwide. A mat-forming herbaceous plant with oval leaves and a constant succession of vivid, saucer-shaped, fragrant flowers. Flowers can be ruined by damp weather, but blooming is copious. Wide colour range available, some with stripes, edging or darker veins. Series include ‘Mirage’, ‘Wave’, ‘Celebrity’ and trailing ‘Surfinia’.

      Soil preference: Any, not wet

      Aspect: Full sun

      Season of interest: Summer

      Height and spread: Various, to 30cm × 60cm (1ft × 2ft)

      Companion plants: Traditionally bedded on their own or with contrasting colours of bedding salvias or tagetes, petunias are also useful for gap filling in mixed planting schemes and for containers.

      Tagetes patula, T. tenuifolia

      French/African/Afro-French Marigold, Tagetes Annual

      Annuals with divided, sometimes filigree foliage and a succession of flowers in hot hues from yellow, through gold to orange, red or pale cream. African Marigolds such as ‘Antigua Gold’ grow tallest; French Marigolds such as ‘Little Hero’ (orange) or ‘Safari’ series are mid-height; and Tagetes such as ‘Starfire’ form sprays of yellow or orange flowers.

      Soil preference: Free-draining, fertile

      Aspect: Sun

      Season of interest: Summer

      Height and spread: Variable up to 60cm × 45cm (up to 2ft × 1ft 6in)

      Companion plants: These hot colours are difficult to team in more naturalistic bedding schemes but their power and distinctive aroma make them great value for bulking up summer colour. Tagetes are superb with blue daisies such as Felicia amelloides.

      Pelargonium hybrids

      Geraniums