E-F

Justifiably popular and very easy to grow from seed, Eschscholzia californica are one of the easiest and most colourful annuals to grow. 'Purple Gleam' is an elegant and unusual cultivar of the California poppy, with single, satiny blooms in lovely shades of purple-pink to lilac-purple.

The best and truest red ever seen in a Californian Poppy. Eschscholzia californica 'Red Chief' has been outstanding in trials, the intensely coloured blooms are produced all summer long above low-growing mounds of feathery blue-green foliage.

With flowers that resemble a rose, Eschscholzia californica 'Rosa Romantica' is a lovely and quite unique California Poppy, the petals are streaked in the most romantic of shades, soft pink-rose and salmon-fuchsia overlay creamy white on each elaborately painted petal.

One of the grandest of plants, Euphorbia characias 'Wulfenii' has upright stems clothed with whorls of fleshy, mat grey-green leaves that lend the whole plant a textural quality that is unparalleled. From March to June the plants are topped with intense chartreuse-green flowers'.

Euphorbia lathyris is an ornamental biennial plant with upright unbranched stems which carry four rows of rigidly arranged deep green leaves. Commonly known as the Caper Spurge or Mole Plant. The seeds grow in green clusters of three seeds and look a little like Capers. The plant is reputed to deter moles.

Summer Icicle adds wonderful contrast to bright summer bedding and container displays and is at home in the border where it performs well in hot and dry soils. The flowers form small white cups at the top and centre of the plant. It is top branching so ideal for use as a cut flower.

Euphorbia oblongata is one of the very loveliest euphorbias. With dazzling yellow flowers, vibrant lime green bracts and dark green, oval leaves with pale green veins. Often grown as an annual, this fabulous and attractive plant is one of the longest-flowering and most valuable of commercial cut flowers.

Euphorbia x pasteurii has only been on the garden scene for about four years. With yellow honey scented flowers from April to June and clothed in narrow, leathery evergreen dark green leaves with a distinctive, creamy-white central midrib, it makes a very attractive, rounded architectural form.

Evening Primrose is a classic plant, with its beautiful yellow flowers is a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. The whole plant is edible: leaves can be cooked as greens and the nutty-flavoured roots can be boiled and eaten like potatoes, parsnips, or salsify. The flowers make a lovely salad garnish.

Felicia 'The Blues' is one of the few Felicia’s with entirely blue flowers. It is drought tolerant and very easily grown from seed. Flowering in just 8 to 10 weeks from sowing the stunning electric-blue flowers are borne above tidy, compact foliage.

Used in many culinary dishes, the leaves and seeds of Fennel have a sweet aroma and an aniseed flavour. The fine clouds of feathery, bronze-purple leaves are wonderful in the herb garden or among tall perennials and grasses. The foliage acts as a delicate veil through which flower heads of plants can be seen.

The green garden fennel is a handsome and popular perennial, often planted on its own for impact or combined with other flowers in borders. The airy feather foliage is crowned in late summer with large heads of tiny flowers. Both leaves and seeds are useful and seeds may be left to ripen as a crop.

Festuca amethystina has the most striking combination of silvery-blue, tufted blades of foliage, with drooping, dark violet-tinged flower stems that will rise above the foliage in the first year if sown early enough. It is a gem for containers or a rock garden.

Diminutive Festuca glauca makes a tight mound of steely blue, needle-like blades and is one of the most tactile of the evergreen grasses. Planted as a specimen or in swathes across a garden, the colour is so unexpected it can't help but catch the eye.

Our native Meadowsweet is a familiar sight, with fernlike foliage and tufts of graceful, fragrant creamy-white flowers, which are in blossom from June to almost September. It has been used as a medicinal plant since ancient times.

You can't see it or touch it. But it's so integral a part of the garden experience that it penetrates the very soul. It's fragrance. And none of our other four senses has the power to trigger emotions as strong or memories as sweet as scent does. Practice your own individual form of 'aromatherapy' in the garden.