June

This old English cottage plant is making a comeback, and no wonder. The astonishing, velvety Wallflower 'Blood Red' with deep crimson-red flowers is a favourite with gardeners. They are ideal for borders and edging, they could also be used in large containers….and of course, walls!

Wallflower ‘Cloth of Gold' is a favorite with gardeners, each plant wears a cloak of the finest gold and the large golden-yellow flowers are filled with a sweet fragrance, from mid-spring and throughout summer. They are a perfect foil for daffodils and many other spring bulbs.

‘Fair Lady Mixed' is a classic tried and trusted variety. Reliably hardy, this uniform mixture blooms in a wide range of colours, both pastels and bright colours and includes the more unusual dusky-pink shades. This marvellous; fragrant, floriferous flower is extremely easy to grow and very rewarding.

Erysimum (formerly Cheiranthus) cheiri ‘Fire King' is another old and tried variety, with striking, flame-like, glowing orange-scarlet flowers. A compact variety with a bushy habit and a rich fragrance, they will supply the household with an abundance of cut flowers for many weeks.

What spring garden would be complete without a bed of delightful, sweet-scented Wallflowers, harbingers of warmer weather to come? “Ivory-White” is a fabulous, yet hard to find form. A compact variety with a bushy habit which is ideal as an underplanting to tulips and other spring bulbs.

One of the grandest of plants, Euphorbia characias 'Wulfenii' has upright stems clothed with whorls of fleshy, mat grey-green leaves that lend the whole plant a textural quality that is unparalleled. From March to June the plants are topped with intense chartreuse-green flowers'.

Summer Icicle adds wonderful contrast to bright summer bedding and container displays and is at home in the border where it performs well in hot and dry soils. The flowers form small white cups at the top and centre of the plant. It is top branching so ideal for use as a cut flower.

Euphorbia oblongata is one of the very loveliest euphorbias. With dazzling yellow flowers, vibrant lime green bracts and dark green, oval leaves with pale green veins. Often grown as an annual, this fabulous and attractive plant is one of the longest-flowering and most valuable of commercial cut flowers.

Gypsophila has recently become rather trendy among celebrity and designer florists, even taking centre stage as the main flower focus of bouquets and arrangements. 'Covent Garden' produces hundreds of tiny, single white flowers on wire-thin branches, giving an airy impression.

Gypsophila paniculata 'Snowflake' is a pretty double-flowered baby’s breath that offers big airy clouds of white blooms in early summer. The flower panicles are strong-stemmed, compact and bloom a bit earlier than standard forms. Each stem has hundreds of tiny white flowers on wire-thin branches, giving an airy, soft impression.

If there's one plant that can inject a little razzle-dazzle into the border during gloomy late summers it is Helenium. From late July 'Helena' blooms with masses of vibrant blooms in a spectrum of rich colours from gold to mahogany red. Perfect for the back of the border and wonderful for cutting.

Helenium hoopesii is considered by some to be the most valuable of the species. It blooms with bright golden yellow disk florets that each form a kind of rounded knob that transforms the flower from your typical two-dimensional daisy into something much more interesting and sculptural.

If you like well-branched, free-flowering, traditional sunflowers that are not too tall, 'Holiday' is the one you've been looking for. At 120cm (4ft) tall, with golden yellow petals and dark centres, it bears armfuls of cheery 15 to 20cm blooms. Irresistible for cut flower bouquets and for a large garden planting.

With perfectly shaped blooms with overlapping orange petals that surround a pollenless dark brown central disc, Helianthus 'ProCut Orange' is the first choice for growers who are looking for that traditional sunflower appearance. A true Day length neutral cultivar that flower quickly at all latitudes and take just 60 to 65 days to maturity.

Lighter than orange and darker than yellow, Helianthus ‘ProCut Peach' is the latest colour to be added to the series, a beautiful warm, pale yellow hue that shimmers towards the peach-coloured range. It produces perfectly shaped, single pollenless blooms. Sow mid spring to mid summer for continuous blooms.

Helianthus 'ProCut Plum' is an elegant sunflower with petals the most delicious mix of soft colours. Café-Au-lait lightly brushed with dusky bronze-crimson. In the vase it mixes well with other blooms in bronze and reddish tones. Just 60 to 65 days to maturity, sow mid spring to mid summer and cut when the petals begin to unfurl from the face

Helianthus 'ProCut Red' is a stunning new dark addition to this widely grown series. Flowers are a deep, rich rusty-red, one of the best dark colours on the market. Dark chocolaty centers gradually give way to ruby ringed petals that fade to a lighter tip. Sow mid spring to mid summer for continuous blooms.