March

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.

Prunella vulgaris is an interesting and quite beautiful little wildflower plant. The plants produce pretty blue-violet flowers in summer, the flowers freely produce nectar and are highly attractive to bees. If you’re looking for something to add to a meadow garden, or something for those shady areas this is the plant for you.

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.

Collected at altitude in Japan and introduced in 2006, Polemonium yezoense 'Purple Rain' is one of the best new introductions in recent years. With bronze-purple lacy foliage, dark stems and violet-blue flowers, it is the darkest flower form of Polemonium available.

The white form of the lovely Jacobs Ladder, named after the slender, fresh green leaflets arranged like the rungs of a ladder. Blooming in late spring to early summer, the bright foliage and white flowers will brighten shady locations. Both the flowers and the attractive ferny foliage are excellent for cutting.

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.

The Cape Gooseberry is a useful small crop for the home garden. The fruit is expensive to purchase as it is labour intensive in commercial plantings. Very easy to grow from seed, it can overwinter outdoors in mild areas or when grown in favoured positions such as the foot of a sunny wall.

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.

'Sugar Stars' is a fabulous new annual Phlox variety that blooms with a confection of purple-blue and white clustered blooms. One of the most useful of annuals they flower from mid July right through to October. For spectacular display, romantic excess and sweet fragrance, they are without peer.

Clusters of blooms in a range of fashionable new colours: coffee, caramel, raspberry and cream, many with dark centres, the colours combine to create an antique appearance. Phlox 'Cherry Caramel' are uniform and have outstanding weather tolerance and will flower right through the summer until October. Leave the colour in your borders or cut regularly through summer for wonderful vase displays.

Silvery white petals are dressed in tints of blush pink that darken with age, against a darker pink eye. The blooms carry a fresh fragrance reminiscent of lilacs and make delightful cut flowers. Uniform with outstanding weather tolerance they will flower right through the summer until October. Leave the colour in your borders or cut regularly through summer for wonderful vase displays.

Persicaria orientalis ‘Cerise Pearls’ is a new, modern-day variety that grows to a more manageable height of 100 to 140cm . Tall enough to give the same airy effect, yet so much easier to place in the garden. From August to October the whole plant is spectacularly draped with long, dangling, velour-like cerise tassels.

Russian Sage is one of the great garden plants of all time, but if you've been frustrated by their floppy nature, this new variety will be a welcome addition. Growing to about 60 to 75cm tall, Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Taiga' is also the first Russian sage available as a first year flowering perennial.

The Bees and Butterflies Mix of flowers is a carefully chosen range of over 30 annual flowers that are rich in both nectar and pollen that both bees and butterflies adore. They will flower within six to eight weeks and provide you with pleasure throughout the summer.

Penstemon barbatus 'Twizzle White' adds a graceful twist to the garden. A first year flowering perennial, that is hardy and vigorous, it boasts twice the length of flowering stems, giving longer, more elegant wands for the vase while preserving the natural elegance of Penstemon barbatus.