February

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.

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.

The wild rose bursts with lightly scented, usually flesh pink flowers (though they can be pinker or whitish) in summer. They are followed by a terrific show of bright red hips, they can be used to make jam, jelly, syrup, marmalade and wine. Delicious and an excellent natural source of vitamin C.

This attractive plant will be equally at home in the flower border or keeping company with the sage and thyme in your herb garden. Delightfully aromatic, the floral-peppermint scent is subtly different from other mints. Mountain mint is a great nectar plant, its honey is much sought after.

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.

Pulsatilla vulgaris is now a very rare native species, the genus includes some of the loveliest of all flowering plants. In early spring, woolly, flower buds first appear, their silky foliage is deeply divided and covered with soft silvery hairs. The violet-purple flowers often opening while still under snow cover. These plants are always a delight.

Pulsatilla alpina subsp. alpina is a charming form, with white flowers, the outer segments flushed with bluish-purple. A favourite for collectors, they have a protracted flowering period and followed by attractive seed heads, they are showy, long-lived and reliable plants with a lengthy period of interest.

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.

Potentilla 'Helen Jane' is a beautiful new semi-dwarf cultivar that displays gorgeous crimson-eyed, bright pink flowers, with petals that are attractively crinkled just like crepe paper. Flowering over a long period, new buds open repeatedly in a long succession, from late June to September.

The physostegia has prolific dazzling tubular flower spikes which are arranged on distinctly square stems. This oddly named perennial is perfect for the middle of a mixed or herbaceous border. The flowers are on swivels that can be bent right or left on the stem - a useful feature for floral displays.

Tall garden phlox are a beauty to behold, the large, dense flower clusters, produced in abundance during summer. Phlox Hybrids Mix is a perennial, cultivated strain. The colours are wonderful, the sweetly fragrant, evening scent is captivating and they are very easy to grow.

Phlox is one of the most useful of annuals, they are extremely rewarding garden subjects and lack real competition in the late summer garden. Uniform, with outstanding weather tolerance they will flower from mid July right through the summer until October. Perfect for wedding work and bouquets, Grandiflora 'Alba' provides pure white flowers combined with a delicious scent.