Gardeners' friends

They are alive with insects and bees, much more so than any nearby perennials. For that reason alone every gardener should aspire to grow some, for most are nectar-rich and capable of satisfying all-important insect life.  With seed catalogues about to fall through your letterbox there is no excuse for not growing some of these colourful and easy flowers next year. The secret with direct-sowing most seeds is to wait until the soil warms up, to ensure that germination is fast and effective. This trial was sown on May 6, and Wisley is in the banana belt compared to the much-colder heart of England where we are. So we must bide our time.

Prepare the ground by lightly digging over the surface and raking down to a fine tilth. If cats are about, net the seeds and be prepared to water in dry weather.  The bees on the Portsmouth field at Wisley are currently being seduced by the blue bells of Echium vulgare ‘Blue Bedder’ (from Thompson & Morgan). This member of the borage family looks at its best in June and July, but can look ragged from late-summer onwards, although it will carry on flowering. I grow a strip close to asparagus and by August the spears have turned into tall fern-like plants and they distract the eye from any fading echiums.   The pale-pink Cynoglossum amabile  ‘Mystery Rose’ (also a member of the borage family) has the common name of Chinese forget-me-not. It is also a magnet for honey bees and this plant ( from Thompson & Morgan) doesn’t peak until late summer and the soft-silvery pink flowers are very pretty with stronger purples and pinks.

There are some excellent phacelias or blue bonnets.  One of the best, ‘Tropical Surf’ from Thompson & Morgan,  produces white-centred azure flowers. I am also taken with the flax-like flower of  Viscaria ‘Blue Angel’ (over 1,000 seeds for only £1.55 from Suttons) and these simple flowers shine in August and September producing a profusion of campanula-blue saucers. The correct name is now Silene coeli-rosa. But most catalogues will still list this under viscaria. Old habits die hard.

Silenes are closely related to dianthus and there are now annual varieties of sweet William ( Dianthus barbatus) which don’t need verbalisation ( a cold period) in order to flower. Most are listed under Noverna. But there is new one called ‘Amazon’ from Ball Colegrave. These annual sweet Williams need sowing in March, at the latest, if they are to flower in the same year. So there aren’t any on this trial. But I can recommend Chiltern Seeds for their range (01229 581137 ). These flat-headed flowers make long-lasting cut flowers too and humming bird hawk moths actively seek them out.   Annual blue cornflowers  ( Centaurea cyanus) are also worth planting. They attract red tailed bumble bees better than any other plant. My garden is bounded by stone walls and these small bees often build their nests in crevices close to or in stone. It’s worth deadheading these willowy cornflowers in order to keep them in flower. Then they will go on and on for months.  Thompson and Morgan are also selling a delicate, pale-pink cornflower called Amberboa muricata and this looks wonderful on the trial. Another yellow daisy causing interest is Lindheimeri texana ‘Sunny Boy’. I like this because when it sheds its petals a fresh, lime-green calyx remains. Both are new to me and I will be looking out for them.

Love in the mist is one of the easiest annuals to sprinkle and sow. It combines pale-green buds, interesting flowers and these are followed by lantern-like pods full of seeds.  Many of us grow blue forms like ‘Miss Jekyll’. But there is white-petalled form with a boss of purple stamens called Nigella papillosa ‘African Queen’ from Thompson & Morgan. The purple boss of stamens at the heart of this nigella could easily pick up the colour of a dark penstemon like ‘Raven’ or ‘Bredon’. Or use with purple candy tuft (or iberis) an annual that produces a very interesting whorl of seeds as it finishes flowering.

I wouldn’t recommend growing annuals in straight lines. Use them as gap fillers with hardy perennials or create a blend of three or four.  Once you’ve got them many will seed freely and you can pick the seeds on dry days and store them in paper bags or envelopes until the following year. Always add a well-written label.  Umbellifers, or members of the cow parsley family have masses of tiny flowers and these are highly attractive to hoverflies. These creatures need to be encouraged because most hoverfly larvae devour pests including greenfly. Two of the best umbellifers for hoverflies are the lime-green Bupleurum rotundifolium and the white lacy Ammi majus. Both will flower late into the year and both are hardy. Plants of Ammi majus raised in Autumn make much bigger plants and they will provide you with a real show.