September

If you have the space in your garden this is one plant to choose. Acanthus are robust perennials with handsome, lobed foliage. In late summer, tall racemes of white flowers with dusky purple bracts appear. Used as a motif in architecture and art through ages, Acanthus is a true architectural beauty!

Achillea ‘Cerise Queen’ is a carefree and generously blooming perennial which requires little maintenance to create an explosion of late summer colour. The large, flat-topped clusters of vibrant, pink flowers with tiny white centers are irresistible to butterflies, and also make excellent cut flowers.

Achillea ‘Colorado Mix’ is a compact variety growing to only 60cm tall at maturity. Flowering in warm shades of pink, red, yellow, white and apricot, the narrow fern-like foliage will soften your perennial border and the plants are suitable for pots or containers. The flowers are as gorgeous dried as they are fresh.

Achillea is a joy to the gardener for its undemanding adaptive nature and its eagerness to perform. ‘Summer Pastels’, with a soft mix of pastel coloured flowers is very easy to grow, flowering in just four months from sowing and producing flowers in abundance from spring to first frosts.

Achillea millefolium 'Proa' is an improved yarrow, a selected form that is higher yielding, with higher essential oil content, better flower production, and the flowers are more uniformly white. Preferred by those who use yarrow medicinally.

These native wildflowers have clustered flower heads of tiny white flowers that from a distance look like little patches of snow resting on the grass. This famous herb is terrific as a wildflower clump in a blooming meadow, they are also a favourite for cut and dried flower arrangements.

Achillea sibirica var. camtschatica 'Love Parade' is an upright, tufted, perennial yarrow that is native to Siberia. Very different from the common yarrow, with dense clusters of large flat-topped soft pink flowers and glossy, dark green, fern-like leaves, they remain attractive throughout the growing season.

Aconitum napellus ‘Newry Blue’ is an outstanding old Irish cultivar with wonderful upright spires of the deepest rich blue that tower over the back of the border. Known for its dense spires, they are every bit as dramatic as you could hope for them to be.

It is only within the past decade that a number of new noteworthy members of the genus Agastache have emerged from botanical obscurity. ‘Apricot Sprite’ is an outstanding perennial that provides a sizzling blast of tubular, peachy-apricot flowers. Compact and quick growing, they flower in the first year from seed.

Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' has one of the most remarkable leaf colour of any plant. This bright gold-chartreuse beauty offers late season punctuation and purple bottle-brush flowers which are a powerhouse source of nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects.

Agastache ‘Arcado Pink’ is a magnificent first year flowering perennial. An extremely floriferous variety with lovely purple-pink flower spikes and fresh green aromatic foliage. This Fleuroselect Novelty Award Winner is both vibrant in colour and stamina. The aromatic leaves are edible, young growth can be sprinkled in salads, used to decorate cakes, to make a tea or floated in drinks. Agastache added to your Pimms lifts it to a higher sphere altogether.

Agastache 'Astello Indigo' is just about the most exciting breakthrough yet and it's got the award to prove it - Europe's coveted Fleuroselect Gold Medal. Compact and quick growing, they flower in the first year from seed with fabulous, upright spikes that are fully covered with deep indigo-blue flowers. The masses of fragrant blooms throughout the summer are ideal for cutting. They produce copious amounts of nectar for bees and butterflies to feast upon.

Agastache ‘Liquorice White’ has tall spikes of white lipped flowers and like all Agastache produces copious amounts of nectar for bees and butterflies to feast upon. Flowering late in the season, it is a boon for building up bees’ honey reserves before winter and will produce a honey surplus where drifts are grown.

Ajuga genevensis is used throughout the world yet this relatively uncommon form is less well known. This very well behaved, evergreen groundcover has deep gentian blue flower spikes and is by far the showiest of the species. It is often the plant of choice for smaller areas or along edges and pathways.

For most of the year Ajuga is a pleasant, quiet achiever, a very versatile low growing ground cover, with evergreen, rosette-like foliage that hugs the ground like an evergreen carpet but those weeks in spring when the blue flowers appear are simply quite magical.

Alcea ficifolia is reliably perennial and unlike the biennial forms which produce a single spire, they produce many upright stems, resulting in a bushy form. ‘Happy Lights’ is a beautiful strain, a bold blend of white, pink, purple, red, and yellow blooms. If sown early they will bloom in their first year.

Alcea ficifolia is a less-known variety of hollyhock. Reliably perennial, with attractive palmate foliage, the plant produces many upright stems and has a bushy form. 'Single Mix' produces large, single saucer shaped flowers that appear from May to October in a gorgeous variety of shades - cream, gold, rose pink, copper and plum.

‘Chater’s Double’ give a wonderful mixed colour range of large, fully double flowers that are nearly pom-pom in appearance. Rosettes of big hairy leaves will develop by autumn then die back before winter. It will bloom the following summer .... the word bloom being an understatement!

This gorgeous award winning Hollyhock has the distinction of being the shortest in the Alcea rosea family. 'Queeny' is a dwarf Hollyhock that reaches only 60cm in height with fully double blooms. Unlike the tall varieties, it is a perennial that can also be used as an annual as it will bloom in its first year.

Hollyhocks are a mysterious and prolific flower with a long and rich history. Traditionally associated with cottage-style borders, the dramatic, near-black flowers of Nigra work equally well in a contemporary, minimalist garden. This unique variety creates an impressive impact against most backgrounds.

Until a few years ago you would never have seen wild garlic on a menu, but these days is definitely a chefs' favourite. The whole plant is edible. The flavour is softer, more pleasant than cloves from garlic bulbs. The leaves have a vibrant colour that brings food to life.