Cardamine pratensis is one of the most beautiful and one of the best loved of our wild flowers. It bears long narrow leaves and supremely elegant flowers in late spring/early summer. It flowers at the time the first cuckoo starts to call.

Magnificent and spectacular spikes of rose-purple flowers, which last from June throughout the summer distinguish this tall wetland plant. Purple loosestrife is an easy garden plant, thriving in any soil. It is a beautiful subject for late summer colour in a border, shrubbery, large pond or slow-moving water.

Pennyroyal is a cottage garden plant of old. This highly aromatic herb has a strong peppermint scent to its dark green leaves, even more so than other mints.With attractive whorls of lilac-blue flowers, it can be used to carpet a shady corner or make a “lawn” smelling deliciously of peppermint.

Bistort was formerly cultivated as a culinary and medicinal plant. This semi-evergreen perennial produces clusters of small, light pink flowers throughout summer and into autumn. This plant is ideal for creating groundcover, it is also a useful plant for soils that are poorly drained.

Candelabra primulas are worth growing for their sheer size and the attractive flowers that clothe the stems in whorls. Suitable for herbaceous borders or as marginal plants beside ponds, they will thrive if given a place where the roots will not dry out during the spring or summer.

‘Noverna Deep Blue’ is a fascinating primula with the most intense, deep blue-violet flowers. The beautiful flared bell-shaped blooms emerge in summer in tight clusters at the top of an 8 to 10 inch stems.

Primula denticulata is among the most handsome and striking pf the primula family, it is the “drumstick primula”: the name derives from its dense, spherical flower-head. It is an easy-growing, rumbustious species, suitable for any garden where the soil does not dry out in summer.