High Summer Colour Seed Collection

Calendula are one of the easiest flowers to grow. They are happy in most soils and can jostle along the borders of paths, fill gaps in your borders or tip out of pots. They also work hard for us in the garden, attracting the pollinators and helping to control aphids. I love the gorgeous apricot colour of Sherbert Fizz and its deep burgundy petal tips. Don’t forget the flowers are edible, and you can sprinkle the light peppery-tasting petals on your salad.

For masses of flowers that are super-easy to grow from seed, choose Cornflower ‘Classic Romantic’. Cornflowers are the pretty, early summer cottage garden flower which everyone loves. The Classic Romantic mix has a soft vintage rose feel with pink and white single and double flowers. Lovely arranged in a colourful jumble in jugs, or have fun with the resilient stems, making cornflower chains with the children to decorate the table or wear in your hair.

Hurray for this annual form of phlox! It’s quick to flower from seed-grown seedlings and can be used in the border like a bedding plant, in pots and in the cutting garden The plants bush out as they grow and produce clusters of lovely flowers. ‘Cherry Caramel’ has sophisticated, caramel pink flowers. Mix with other phlox for a profusion of loveliness.

With our hotter and drier summers, we need to find flowers that can cope. Zinnias are a good option, and the ‘Mazurkia Mix’ is like a troupe of jolly circus performers. The flowers are tall and abundant in crazy, strawberry and cream striped flowers. I love them for perking up a vase full of other more pastel colours.

Zinnias are a flower grower’s best friend, giving wonderful exotic bursts of colour all the way from July to October. This one is bright pink and white and is super-productive. I love bright zinnias in rows of bud vases or jugs full of the bright flowers to dazzle on an outside table. They will tolerate some drought and heat.