Butterfly Garden

Tropaeolum 'Salmon Baby' is a very striking and attractive nasturtium that produces an abundance of semi-double salmon-pink flowers which contrast beautifully against the dark foliage. Extremely easy to cultivate, this neat and compact variety has edible flowers and is an excellent companion plant.

Glowing cherry-coral blooms give this variety a warm, tropical quality, and the versatile colour mixes well with so many things. Nasturtium 'Jewel Cherry Rose' has a more mounding growth habit than other trailing nasturtiums, but stem length is sufficient for arranging, and it won’t overtake the garden.

Tropaeolum ‘Tip Top' is a premium series that provides uniquely coloured flowers that are a great addition to the nasturtium family. ‘Pink Blush’ sports tender, vintage-cream flowers, finely veined with apricot-pink. The subtle palette gives a relaxed, modern look to borders and larger containers alike.

Nasturtium “Peach Melba Superior” is a gorgeous variety, with bright cream, semi-double flowers with mahogany-red markings in the throat. Uniform and compact in habit, this dwarf plant is good excellent in containers, the beautiful flowers are carried well above the foliage for maximum effect.

Valeriana officinalis is a graceful wildflower that is native to Europe and Western Asia. The tall, branched flower stalks are held atop a low mound of foliage, the densely clustered flowers are sweetly scented and usually white with a hint of pink.

Verbascum nigrum is one of the most reliable and long-flowering verbascum, it is also one of the truly perennial species. This European native bloom profusely with masses of golden-yellow flowers. First thing in the morning, the flowers are alive with bees getting on with their day’s work. Take time to stand and admire them for a few minutes. They will pay you no heed, they’re far too busy.

Verbascum nigrum is one of the most reliable and long-flowering verbascum, it is also one of the truly perennial species. The variety ‘Album’ bloom profusely in late spring with masses of white flowers with attractive violet filaments, held on candelabra like branches. They bloom throughout the summer, with a few sporadic flowers still in September to early October.

Verbena bonariensis 'Vanity' is a new compact cultivar of a perennial favourite. This Fleuroselect Gold Medal winning variety has an open habit with gorgeous, intense purple-blue clusters atop branching thin, wiry stems. Its garden friendly, neat habit makes it sturdier and easier to maintain while you create a pollinator paradise in your garden.

Verbena hastata 'Blue Spires' is the blue form of this lovely perennial, with multi-branching candelabra-like flower heads, the flowers slowly expand as they ascend the stems like burning sparklers. The flowers appear in mid-late summer and will last into late autumn.

Verbena hastata 'Pink Spires' flowers with multi-branching candelabra-like flower heads. Appearing in mid-late summer and lasting into late autumn, this hardy plant does not need staking, and provides lots of mid to late summer colour in the garden.

Verbena hastata 'White Spires' is one of the choicest species available. It produces masses of pure white flowers on architectural flower heads. Its sheer volume of flowers make it a real winner. It is understandably increasing in popularity as it becomes more readily available.

To garden with an Oudolf-esque plant like Veronicastrum, it is not necessary to turn your outdoor space into a prairie: you are allowed to keep your flower beds. Naturalistic planting travels well, and Veronicastrum holds its own in a formal border as well as in the middle of a lawn which has turned into a meadow.

Popular wonderful flowers, reminiscent of Dahlias on tall robust plants, Zinnia elegans 'Dahlia-Flowered Pink' are extremely easy to grow from seed, they provide colour from mid-summer to autumn and with thick straight stems that are less likely to bend when being cut. They are perfect for cut flowers.

Popular wonderful flowers, reminiscent of Dahlias on tall robust plants, Zinnia elegans 'Dahlia-Flowered Rose' are extremely easy to grow from seed, they provide colour from mid-summer to autumn and with thick straight stems that are less likely to bend when being cut. They are perfect for cut flowers.

In Zinnias, 'Dahlia-flowered' means multi-petaled, piled up, dome-shaped blooms that really do resemble dahlias. 'Dahlia-Flowered Salmon' feature gorgeous, large 8 to 10cm (3 to 4in) salmon-pink blooms. Extremely easy to grow from seed, they provide colour from mid-summer to autumn.

So named for their unique spiky appearance, Cactus Flowered Zinnias have semi double, large blooms each with re-curved, quilled and twisted petals, they bloom in a wide range of colours. Growing 75cm tall, with thick straight stems, they are perfect for a bouquet or for the vase.

A slightly eccentric variety of Giant Cactus Zinnia, 'Señorita' produces wonderful large, peach, cherry and salmon-pink blooms each with ruffled, ribbon-like petals. These reliable plants produce a bumper crop and the more you harvest, the more they bloom, providing colour from mid-summer to autumn.

Years of breeding have brought striking new colours, shapes, sizes, and growing habits to the humble zinnia. Zinnia elegans produces large golden yellow blooms, atop thick straight stems that are less likely to bend when cut. They make wonderful cut flowers and have a long vase life.

Zinnia are back in fashion with a vengeance. They are extremely easy to grow from seed and provide colour from mid-summer to autumn. They are the perfect flower for beginners and are a favourite flower of gardeners and florists around the world. 'Illumination' feature large 10 to 12cm (4 to 5in) pink blooms.