This ever-popular annual is perhaps more versatile than you might imagine – good in the border, most effective as a cut flower in arrangements, a good pot-plant and, not often appreciated – if carefully dried, the colour of the spikes remains unchanged for a considerable time.

Amaranthus paniculatus 'Oeschberg' is a rather splendid ornamental addition to the garden: an erect annual, it bears showy red spikes of flowers that not only decorate the border but, fresh or dry, make exciting vase material as they keep their colour when dried.

Amaranthus tricolour ‘Early Splendour’ is grown for its beautiful foliage, the large bronzy-green leaves turn to rosy red leaves as the season progresses. Also known as ‘Summer Poinsettia’ due to the similarity of the bracts, this highly ornamental plant is easy to grow and fast to flower.

Astrantia major “Primadonna” is a splendid and most attractive cultivated variety forming bushy plants, good for ground cover, and bearing long, loosely-branched stems of very lovely flowers in various shades of wine to deep red. The papery bracts remain presentable for months, rustling in every breeze.

“Royal Ensign” Red is a dwarf form of Morning Glory with lovely carmine red blooms. The mounding habit makes it perfect massed in large beds, the trailing growth also looks great in large containers and window boxes. A prolific bloomer which will flower from early summer and right through autumn.

Cosmos 'Pied Piper Red' is the only C. bipinnatus 'Sea Shells' cultivar that has a separate colour available. Inside the tubular petals are a deep crimson-red while outside they are a dark lavender streaked with silver. An especially appealing cosmos for the cutting garden as well as a perfect border plant.

“Out of this World” is how the raiser describes this spectacular new variety. With naturally compact plants, it bears an abundance of blooms with an intense scarlet-red colour: a unique flower colour that intensifies as light levels increase. The resulting mounds of colour make a dazzling garden display.

This superior new variety is naturally multi-stemmed, with up to twenty flowers on short stems. The flowers are a deep, mahogany-red, with a golden halo around the large centres. Prado Red are quick to bloom and produce excellent cut flowers as they produce hardly any pollen.

This beautiful dark centred variety has glorious bronze-maroon petals. These exceptional cut flowers with long stems last for several days in a vase. A late bloomer, the dark colour of Red Sun stands out in the garden, adding rich, vibrant colour to flower beds.

Ruby Eclipse is a beautiful branching plant, producing an abundance of ruby red and lemon tipped bi-coloured flowers. The flowers colours vary, the lightest ones being the nearest to pink that you can get. This excellent pollenless sunflower works well as a cut flower.

Velvet Queen is a branching sunflower in an opulent shade of rich crimson on strong stems. It is one of the earliest sunflowers to bloom and will grow to 150cm tall. They make excellent cut flowers, alternatively leave them on the plant for the birds to enjoy the seed-heads that follow.

Rich, red to magenta, large, exotic trumpet flowers with emerald green heart-shaped leaves. An absolutely reliable plant, with a profusion of large flowers 15cm in diameter, 'Scarlet O'Hara' will tolerate heat and is a splendid climber for covering trellis-work or for container planting.