This versatile Sweet William is generally grown as a biennial or short-lived perennial to create a carpet of summer flowers in the following year. However, it can be grown as an annual from an early sowing, producing flowers in just 10 weeks! Dianthus barbatus 'Indian Carpet' is a low growing, well branched variety which is sweetly fragrant, with a fabulous colour mix.
Dwarf French Bean ?Mistic? produces an abundance of dark, purple-black pods from as early as June. With regular picking it will keep cropping right through to October! These compact plants make an attractive crop, with purple tinted foliage and pale violet flowers.
The purple-blue pincushion flowers of Field Scabious add a splash of colour wild flower meadows. Their pretty summer blooms rise upon slender, swaying stems.
This is a foxglove with a unique difference - instead of modestly facing downwards, the chunky flower spikes of Foxglove 'Candy Mountain' are packed with blooms which gaze upwards so you can see the intricate detail on the speckled throats. Enjoying a partially shaded position, undemanding Foxgloves are a classic choice for growing in woodland areas or in borders in the dappled shade of trees.
For colourful, cost effective ground cover, look no further than Geranium ?Reflections?. This designer mix combines a range of large flowered varieties in shades of blue, purple, pink and white.
Hollyhock 'Halo Mixed' makes a big impact in borders, with colourful flower spikes reaching up to 2m high! The bee-friendly blooms of this mixture unfurl in an array of beautiful shades, each centred with a distinctive halo. A cottage-garden classic which grows easily in any sunny spot, even in poor soils, low-maintenance Hollyhocks put on an impressive summer show ideal for beds, borders and narrow spaces against walls.
Known for its versatility and impressive nutritional benefits, Kale 'Nero di Toscana' provides a fantastic autumn and winter harvest of tasty leaves, suitable for steaming, adding to recipes or used as a baby leaf to add a peppery taste to mixed salads. The deep green long savoy-like crinkled leaves are flavoursome and well textured.
An attractive and flavoursome variety, British-bred Leek ?Northern Lights? produces tender, straight stems topped with a flare of blue-green foliage which takes on a purple hue in cold temperatures. Showing excellent winter hardiness, this maincrop variety produces a healthy yield of nutritious leeks which can be harvested between December and March.
This reliable cut and come again variety will provide you with a rewardingly long harvest of tasty, crunchy salad leaves. Salad is always best eaten freshly picked for optimum texture and flavour - with successive sowings, Lettuce 'Valmaine' will treat you to an ongoing supply of fresh green leaves to harvest repeatedly throughout summer and into autumn.
Serve fresh home-grown mint with roast lamb, use it to make a refreshing yoghurt dip to accompany curry, add it to side dishes, make sauces or simply use as a decorative garnish on a dessert . With such a multitude of uses, it?s no wonder mint has been such a popular kitchen herb for so long.
Let the twining stems of this fast-growing climbing annual, Morning Glory 'Heavenly Blue?, scramble their way up trellis and obelisks in your summer garden and put on their fantastic show of vivid flowers. Known as Morning Glory for its simple sky-blue flowers which open every morning throughout the summer.
Free-flowering, vibrant and edible, Nasturtium ?Climbing Mixed? certainly have a lot to offer. Over the course of the season, these vigorous plants grow long stems which happily scramble up trellis or over walls, producing a lush show of round leaves along with a long-lasting profusion of edible flowers in vibrant shades of red, yellow and orange.