February

Grown for its outstanding foliage colours, the Kong series of coleus boasts extremely large leaves with irregular edges, each leaf is easily as big as your palm, and probably twice as large as the next biggest Coleus you can buy. 'Kong Red' displays a broad vein of brilliant red down the centre of each leaf.

Over the past few years, the new breeding of Coleus has exploded them into hundreds of wild and crazy types of colours and forms. Overwhelmingly the favourite is the Kong series for its sheer presence, each leaf is easily as big as your palm, and probably twice as large as the next biggest Coleus you can buy.

This uncommon Clematis is a graceful, vigorous and very floriferous climber. During summer and all the way through to autumn the plant is covered with golden yellow nodding lanterns. In the autumn the flowers of 'Radar Love' turn into beautiful large tufts of long silvery, silky seed heads that are just as ornamental.

Actaea simplex 'Atropurpurea' is an exceptionally beautiful selection, valued for its large Astilbe-like leaves of purple black. Its dark hue makes a wonderful backdrop for colourful foliage and flowering shade plants. In late summer, long, fluffy spires in pale pinkish-white, rise above the dark foliage.

Actaea cordifolia comes into its own late in the season, when multiple stiff and stout stems emerge from the base of the plant. It displays impressive long racemes of chalky-white blooms that are composed of numerous, tiny individual star-like, fragrant flowers.

Camomile is a most useful plant. It can be used to make beautiful lawns and raised beds, an infusion of the plant is an ideal family remedy, calming and sedative, perfect for restlessness or travel sickness, while for gardeners the tea is effective as a spray to prevent 'damping-off' of seedlings

This beautiful highly versatile, aristocratic border plant has become very much in vogue in recent years. Oval, fleshy blue-green leaves spiral up the stem with tightly packed, sea blue bracts - and then the finale - small clusters of rich purple-blue tubular, nodding flowers which are adored by bees.

'Snow in Summer' lives up to its name in late spring when the foliage is smothered in luminous white flowers. Beautiful used as a path edging, in a stone wall or cascading over containers. Try it amongst your spring bulbs - tall lily flowering tulips above a dense carpet of white Cerastium… Breathtaking!

Cephalaria gigantea is a gentle giant that has an informal look that is perfect for looser planting styles. With pretty pale butter-yellow scabious shaped flowers, use it as you would Verbena bonariensis planted at the back of a mixed or herbaceous border. The stems are tall but airy and 'see-through'.

Centranthus ruber is a Cottage garden favourite that’s made it into the style books. Sweetly-perfumed, dense clusters of reddish-pink flowers appear from July to October. They are ideal for attracting bees and butterflies and other pollinating insects into the garden and lovely when used as a cut flower.

Centranthus 'Snow Cloud’ produces airy clusters of white flowers that appear from July to October on tall, fleshy stems with glaucous leaves. Very long flowering, sweetly-perfumed and easy-to-grow from seed, given an early sowing Centranthus will flower from July right through to October.

Today cornflowers are rare in the wild, they flourish instead in our gardens. They are the most splendid of annuals. Aside from their electric blue, which is breathtaking when they're grown in dense drifts, they are easy to grow, they flower all summer, make great cut flowers and bees adore them.

Cornflowers are great plants for the cutting garden or border, and this fine cultivar is no exception. Centaurea 'White Boy' is a double flowered cultivar with wonderful fluffy, white flowers on densely branched upright plants. This is the white member of the series which is also known as White Ball and Snowman

The Ball series, also known as the Boy series, feature double flowered blooms on tall stems for garden or cutting. This pink flowered cultivar boasts wonderful full flowers on densely branched upright plants and produces many flowers from early summer until frost. Well suited for cutting, drying, and pressing.

A favorite annual flower and cottage garden staple, Centaurea 'Blue Boy' has piercing, bright blue flowers with ruffled petals and violet-blue centres. The blooms appear from early to late summer. These beauties grow well as border plants and are wonderful in a cutting garden.

The Boy Series, which all feature double flowered blooms on tall stems for garden or cutting, are available in many colours. These beauties grow well as border plants and are wonderful in a cutting garden. 'Black ball' flowers are a lovely rich dark-chocolate hue, almost black on cloudy days.

Catananche caerulea 'Amor Blue' is a charming plant, with blue, star like flowers each with a dark eye and unique papery petals. They look best when grown in groupings, rather than one or two plants and don’t mind crowding. Plant en-masse in prairie style or meadow plantings, mix them up a little with other hardy perennials and grasses.

Carex Prairie Fire is an outstanding specimen plant. A very ornamental grass, in full sun the fine leaved foliage erupts into colour like burning embers. In late summer, panicles of rosy flowers appear just above the foliage. For glorious colour, plant in full sun to partial shade.

Amazon Mist is a graceful ornamental grass with arching silver white evergreen foliage, each ending with a slight curl. The flowing mounds of fine textured are lovely spilling over slopes and walls. It adds colour and texture to both summer and autumn displays.

Canna 'Large Flowered Hybrids' create an undeniably tropical look, producing large flowers in hot colours in yellow, gold, fiery orange and red. With their lush tropical foliage and showy flowers they make borders and beds come alive with their bright colours all summer long until first frosts.