Plum / Red

Knautia macedonica has been hugely fashionable for years and is likely to remain so for many more. This lovely and versatile perennial blooms from late spring to autumn with dark-crimson, richly glamorous pompoms. Established plants produce literally hundreds of blooms in one season.

Mammoth Sweet Peas belongs to a type of sweet pea called an 'Early Multiflora Gigantea'. Marked by the longest stems, and large fragrant blooms, they are very popular with commercial cut flower growers. 'Mammoth Crimson' produce large crimson-red flowers that are borne on beautifully long stems.

Lathyrus odoratus. Sweet pea 'America', a red and white 'flaked' variety. Dating back to the 1890's with stunning scented, large ivory flowers with crimson magenta streaks and rippled margins. One of the best for its large flecked fragrant flowers, treasured by cut flower growers and sweet pea aficionados.

A striking heirloom variety that creates a big impact, Sweet Pea 'Miss Willmott' dates back to 1901 but remains as attractive as ever, in the garden or as a cut flower. Attractive pale orange and salmon pink, unusual bicoloured flowers make a wonderful display, and have a superb fragrance.

The magnificent vertical stems of Lupin ‘My Castle’ produce vibrant red blooms bringing height and grandeur to summer borders. The intense colour of this robust variety makes a real statement when planted in drifts, or dotted among other perennials.

Recently introduced to gardens and a hit Chelsea Flower Show, Lysimachia ‘Beaujolais’ feature flower spikes of deep claret which bloom continuously from May to September. The plants give a good effect used in tight drifts through grasses and other perennials. Ideal for cutting, the dark flowers are adorable in bunches.

Monarda 'Panorama Red Shades' is the first separate colour available from seed. This foolproof plant is trouble-free and a joy for the garden and vase. They bloom profusely with very distinctive flower-heads, each plant bearing up to 20 long stems and are as long-lasting as they are dramatic.

Oriental poppies are the most eye-catching of all border plants. Allegro is a compact, perennial variety that is non-sprawling upright and completely weather resistant. As the buds open, they reveal crumpled, translucent petals that unfurl into striking red, cupped flowers, each with black centres. Ravishing.

Papaver orientale 'Brilliant' exhibits immense scarlet red satiny blooms, each boasting intricately decorated, deep purple-black hearts. A good border plant, as well as an eye catching cut flower, they are very long-lived and virtually care-free, these undemanding plants provide a real spectacle year after year.

Papaver rhoeas 'Pandora' is a strikingly unique and impressive new variety, which blooms in a phenomenal combination of shades. From voluptuous deep burgundy red to paler pink-red all broken by silver grey stripes on the lower petals. They bloom from early summer and bloom for several months.

Originally raised in the 1880's by the Rev. Wilks in his garden in Shirley near Croydon in Surrey. The flowers are often likened to tissue paper, in colours from the brightest scarlet to pure white, with all shades of pink in between and all varieties of flaked and edged flowers.

With its brilliant scarlet flowers, this native wild flower needs no introduction. Single, red, cup-shaped flowers usually with a black blotch at the base of the petals. It is the classic poppy bloom that paint a road verge or embankment a brilliant hue in their first year.

Awarded the Fleuroselect Gold Medal for striking colour, plant habit, and flowering performance, Penstemon barbatus 'Twizzle Scarlet' is a first year flowering perennial that will add height and high-impact colour to the border, giving superb flowering performance from mid to late summer.

Venerating a former plant curator at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, Scotland, 'Ron McBeath' is a beautiful new semi-dwarf cultivar. This diminutive potentilla repeat-flowers for months, sending up wands of rosy carmine flowers even in shade. It outlasts other potentillas by far.

Of all garden Potentillas, this must surely be one of the most attractive. Potentilla ‘Monarch’s Velvet’ is a truly regal plant, with velvet crimson-red flowers above strawberry like foliage. Extremely cold-hardy and evergreen, and if started early it is apt to bloom its first year.

Pulsatilla vulgaris 'Rote Glocke' is a lovely, deep-red form. Hardy and long lived, they are easy to grow. The flowers are produced very early, often opening while still under snow cover. They can develop into robust clumps after only a few years, with a dozen or more blooms out at any one time.

Considered by many gardeners as the most complete border flower, when Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’ was first introduced, it took the plant world by storm. This stunning cultivar is the world’s first red Rudbeckia, it produces a mass of spectacular cherry-coloured blooms all summer long.