Beds & Borders

This Japanese species of Burnet has infiltrated our psyche and somehow manipulated us so that we can find no fault with this most refined of perennials. Flowering in the first half of summer, the highly tactile flowers float like dainty ghosts at the tips of their slender stems.

Sanguisorba officinalis is a native of Europe and an old-world herb that is currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity thanks to the revival of interest in perennial gardens and naturalised form of planting. Perfect for natural style planting schemes, it looks right at home in a swaying sea of grasses.

Sanguisorba menziesii instantly catches the eye in the garden. With dense clusters of deep red, fat wiggly caterpillar shaped flowers and blue-green rounded leaves on gently arching stems, the colouring harmonises beautifully together.

The royal sister of ‘Blue Queen’, ‘Rose Queen’ is a wonderful, long-blooming cultivar with slender spires and beautiful mulberry-rose flowers, which open from dark pink buds in early and mid-summer. This tall, easy-to-grow variety with lance-shaped green leaves possess a pleasant aromatic scent.

Salvia x superba 'Blue Queen' is one of the finest Salvias we know. This plant is a spectacular source of dark, intense colour and narrow, vertical form. Masses of pencil-thin, vibrantly colourful bloom spires, so densely set that they present a solid wall of colour in the border.

Salvia verticillata 'Purple Fairy Tale' is a spectacular first year flowering perennial. The irresistible deep purple petals gather like raindrops in tiered pools to form whorled flowers. Easy to grow, it will begin to bloom just a couple of months after sowing. The plant flowers abundantly and continues right through to September

This hardy biennial Sage has been grown in almost every botanical sanctuary in human history and has many plus points: it grows well in poor soil resists slugs and other beasties, and doesn’t slump or need staking. It copes well in sun or light shade and the blooms are a magnet for bees and butterflies.

Salvia sclarea var. turkestanica 'Vatican White' is a choice white cultivar that is not that easy to find. A nobly architectural Sage, each of its branched stems is topped with a profusion of blossoms with brilliant white bracts. The flowers are attractive and are boosted in impact by the large petioles that surround them.

Salvia patens is undoubtedly one of the very best blue flowering plants, the large, double-lipped blossoms are one of the truest blues found in nature. 'Blue Angel' is one of the smallest of the 'Gentian Sages', there is little else that can compete with the richness of its colour.

Salvia Victoria White is a companion to the more well known Victoria Blue. Flowering in less than four months from seed, it produces its white flowers from summer to autumn. Like all Salvia, it brings butterflies into the garden by the dozen, and makes a wonderful cut or dried flower.

Salvia farinacea ‘Fairy Queen’ is an attractive new variety that bears multiple spikes of bicolour blue and white flowers on dark distinctive flower stems from June to October. With a bushy, compact habit and thick stems. A small white spot on each sapphire blue flower creates the illusion of fairy dust.

Sagina subulata is one of the best low growing ground covers. Irish moss is most often used as a ground cover, softening paths and stepping-stones. It gives a lush accent to rock garden and terraces. For a luxurious carpet of green, few plants can match Irish Moss.

An absolute gift to flower arrangers, this is a noble and ornamental plant for the back of any border making nice clumps of foliage. It is, of course, the flowers that are remarkable: three or four inches across, “green” is one’s immediate impression on seeing them.

Semi-double and double velvety blooms in subtle shades of pale cappuccino, deep caramel, copper and dusty raspberry and everything in between. Rudbeckia 'Sahara' is one of the most spectacular blooms in the late summer border, coming to its peak just as others are starting to fade.

Rudbeckia hirta ‘Maya’ is a fabulous award winning variety, bearing beautifully doubled golden daisies with petals so dense they almost look like pincushions. Golden yellow, with a kiss in the centre — almost like a Zinnia in appearance. An outstanding cut flower and wonderful in mixed containers.

Rudbeckia hirta ‘Large Flowered Mix’ produces a spectacular mix of giant double and semi-double daisy-like flowers that are carried on long stems and are perfect for cutting. In a spectacular mix of warm colours including golden-yellow, orange, bronze and mahogany, they flower profusely all summer long.

The heavy blooming ‘Irish Eyes’ has fantastic bright yellow and gold daisies with emerald green eyes, a far cry from your typical black-eyed Susan. It is easy to grow, great for cutting and offers lots of blooms in the heat of summer. This popular ornamental is at home in wildlife gardens, cutting gardens and mixed borders.

Rudbeckia hirta 'Denver Daisy' has large, golden daisies with chocolate brown centres and marks at the base of each petal. Growing to around 75cm (30in) tall, this lovely variety performs well, is exceptionally heat tolerant and blooms for a long time in summer.

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.