True to its name, this giant among sunflowers is one of the tallest you can grow, with huge, long-lasting daisy-shaped blooms measuring up to 60cm (24in) across and reaching a height of up to 360cm (144in). Having the best record-breaking potential, this heirloom variety is the obvious choice for nurturing children's interest in gardening as well as for indulging your competitive streak - even if just to impress the neighbours as the enormous flowers stand tall well above fence height! Originating in North and South America, sunflowers were worshipped by the ancient Incas as a symbol of their sun god. They reached Europe by the sixteenth century, since when they have been grown in abundance by generations of gardeners and commercial growers for their impressive proportions as well as their highly nutritious seeds and oil. Capable of bringing a touch of sunshine to your garden even when days are dull, they are brimming with optimism and the joys of summer. With enormous dark hearts fringed by glorious bright yellow petals, the flowers soak up the sun and redistribute its goodness in the form of large seeds, which you can roast and eat as a snack, scatter over salads or use in your baking - but don't forget to save some for the birds! When the flowers have reached their peak, hang them up to dry naturally and they will provide a welcome autumn and winter buffet for our feathered friends. However tall they grow, the sturdy, slightly prickly upright stems shouldn't need staking, even in exposed positions, although for peace of mind you may want to provide some support, particularly if you are growing for a competition. The immature flowerheads will follow the sun through the day but once the petals have opened, the flowers will remain facing one direction Supplied as a packet of 25 (approx.) seeds ready to sow indoors or outdoors. For best results, sow the seeds outdoors, directly into their flowering position, to allow the roots to establish firmly with uninterrupted growth. Choose a sunny, sheltered spot with well-draining soil. If necessary, add plenty of well-rotted manure or compost to the ground before planting. Sow from March to May either indoors for planting out in June to July, or outdoors directly into their growing position. These hardy annuals will flower from June to September, in the same year as sowing.
Turn up the heat with this fabulous collection of plants with their fiery hot colours in shades of yellow, orange and red. Chosen to compliment each other wonderfully, you'll have thousands of flowers from early summer and well into the autumn Nasturtium 'Jewel Mixed' Fabulous semi-double blooms in joyous shades of yellow, peachy orange and red are what make these mixed-colour nasturtiums a must-have for bringing vibrant colour to your summer garden. The showy, saucer-shaped flowers are streaked with darker flushes in their centres and stand bold and upright above rich green, bushy foliage. One of the easiest and most satisfying annuals you can grow. Grows to 30cm. 35 Seeds. Californian Poppy 'Monarch Art Shades' is a compact and wonderfully colourful addition to the summer garden.The plants produces double or semi-double flowers in powerful shades of orange. Perfect in pots and at the front of borders, or scattered amongst your planting to give intense highlights. Grows to 30cm. 350 Seeds. Sunflower 'Titan' True to its name, this giant among sunflowers is one of the tallest you can grow, with huge, long-lasting daisy-shaped blooms measuring up to 60cm across and reaching a height of up to 360cm. Having the best record-breaking potential, this heirloom variety is the obvious choice for nurturing children's interest in gardening as well as for indulging your competitive streak. 25 Seeds. Calendula 'Art Shades' masses of frilly petalled, fully double blooms in shades of creamy peach, orange, gold and yellow. They are hugely attractive to many beneficial insects, so make a great companion plant for your kitchen garden and the petals are edible, with a slightly peppery taste. Grows to 30cm. 200 Seeds.
A gorgeous combination of apricot and lilac, just like the colours of a twilight sky in summer, the daisy-like flowers of Osteospermum 'Purple Sun' will fill your garden with fiery colour. From spring to autumn, the uniform, compact plants make the perfect variety for garden borders, mass plantings and other container displays where their abundant heads of bloom will fill your pots much more than traditional varieties and will attract bees and butterflies into your garden. The wonderful combination of colours are the perfect summer combination and their daisy-like blooms are produced in profusion. Ideal for containers and borders, osteos are sun lovers and grow best in moist, well-drained soil. Easy to grow 'Purple Sun' will tolerate light frost as well as heat and drought and need very little in the way of aftercare. Supplied as 3 established plants in 9cm pots, ready to plant out.
So appropriately named, 'Early Sunrise' produces wonderful double sunshine yellow flowers on tall, slender stems above compact mounds of dense thread-like feathery foliage, which gives them the alternative name of 'threadleaf', while their more common name, 'tickseed,' refers to the seeds which resemble ticks and are a great favourite of garden finches. Coreopsis is a naturally rugged prairie plant and ideally suited to today's low maintenance gardens. Easy to grow, drought tolerant, and long blooming, Coreopsis certainly earn its keep in a sunny flower border, rewarding you with an abundance of stunning flowers throughout summer and well into autumn. Fully deserving its coveted RHS Award of Garden Merit, you can be sure that this is a proven garden performer, guaranteed to be suitable for UK gardeners at every level of experience. You can therefore plant this in the garden with confidence, for stunning displays for many years to come, and it's also recommended by the RHS as a 'Plant for Pollinators', with flowers that are a favourite with butterflies and bees. Compact and robust, it's definitely a plant for the front of the border or a patio container - versatile and easy. Supplied as 3 x established plants in 9cm pots, ready for planting, growing to a height and spread of 50cm (20in).
A totally new colour of the much loved 'Butterfly Bush'! This intoxicatingly fragrant beauty is incredibly easy to grow, totally hardy and will illuminate any sunny corner of your garden. When in bloom during the early summer , its arching panicles will attract masses of butterflies and friendly pollinators, offering a safe haven for them to feast on nectar and collect pollen. This is a different species to the more familiar blue buddleias and flowers on one year old wood, - it should be pruned to shape after flowering allowing new growth to appear in late summer. This is the growth that will bear blooms the following year. Eventual height and spread 3-4m but can be restricted by pruning.
Also known as the glory-of-the-sun, Leucocoryne 'Andes' is a delicate beauty that will delight you with its cheery, primrose-like, bi-coloured blooms. The fragrant, funnel-shaped, rosy purple flowers have a distinctive, light purple-red centre and are produced on tall, graceful stems in June-July, emerging above narrow, grassy leaves. Fully deserving of its coveted RHS Award of Garden Merit, you can be sure that Leucocoryne is a proven garden performer, guaranteed to be suitable for UK gardeners at every level of experience. You can therefore plant this in the garden with confidence, for stunning displays for many years to come.Leucocoryne can be left to naturalise in soil that is warm and dry in summer and will benefit from a winter mulch as the bulbs are tender - or you can grow them in a pot of well-draining compost and move them into a frost-free area over winter. The brilliant flowers are around 2.5cm (1in) across and stand out both at the front of a sunny border or as cut flowers in a vase. Supplied as a pack of 25 bulbs, glory-of-the-sun will bloom in June-July and reach approx. H50cm x W10cm.
Recent Lily breeding has created some huge and beautifully coloured Lilies and Lily 'Avalon Sunset' is one such introduction. Combining bright yellow with subtle pink, this is a lily that demands attention. Lilies are one of the most graceful and beautiful of the garden bulbs and 'Avalon Sunset' is no exception - an Asiatic type lily, it's large and upright facing and produces around 5 flowers per plant. A little later flowering than other types, you can expect blooms at the end of June and into July from its sturdy 1.2m stems. Short and strong enough to grow in pots, yet tall enough to cut flowers each summer, this lily is versatile, reliable and very hardy. Plant en masse in large pots or in groups for maximum impact, or maybe just dot them round your garden to brighten up drab spots. Plant in spring, and they'll return year after year, getting bigger and bigger. Great value, easy to grow and truly stunning, they're worth a place in your garden. Supplied as a pack of 5 bulbs, ready for immediate planting.
Crassula ovata, commonly known as the Jade Plant or Money Plant, is a fabulous succulent that's said to be lucky, attracting wealth. Incredibly popular all over the world and 'Sunset' is a stunning variety! Evergreen and bushy, the leaves of this plant are a beautifully warm golden yellow colour with red edges. Slow growing, 'Sunset' can reach 1m in height, so it makes a bold and dramatic specimen houseplant, and as it loves the sun, you'll find the perfect spot on a bright windowsill or in conservatory. During late summer, clusters of lightly scented, small star-shaped white or pale pink flowers appear all other the plant. Fully deserving its coveted RHS Award of Garden Merit, you can be sure that this is a proven garden performer, guaranteed to be suitable for UK gardeners at every level of experience. You can therefore plant this in the garden with confidence, for stunning displays for many years to come. One of the easiest houseplants to look after, Crassula needs nothing more than a regular feed during the growing season, and little water. Supplied as a potted plant in a 12cm pot, reaching a height of 1m (3ft) in height and spread.
With so many Coreopsis varieties flowering in yellow colours, 'Sunstar Rose' is a refreshing change with its bright magenta pink flowers edged in white. The flowers of this gorgeous perennial are daisy shaped and begin to open from June, continuing until the first frosts of autumn. Borne in abundance above narrow, dark green leaves, they cover the plant in wonderful, bright colour and with their long, straight stems they're great cut flowers. Bees and butterflies love their nectar and birds will feast on the seeds, making these ideal plants for bringing wildlife into your garden. Also known as tickseed, Coreopsis in a native of North American prairies and is extremely rugged, easy to grow and drought tolerant and resistant to mildew. Grown in patio pots and in flower borders, you'll be treated to month after month of vivid colour with almost no maintenance, just regular deadheading to keep the flowers coming until autumn. Supplied as an established plant in a 9cm pot, ready for planting and reaching a height and spread of 40cm (16in).
With the popularity of ornamental grasses on the rise in recent years, they have quickly become a must-have for every garden. With so many exciting varieties in different sizes and colours, why not start a collection? Festuca 'Sunrise' is a wonderful, compact grass that grows into a mound of blue-green, arching foliage. In late summer deep orange flowering stems rise above the leaves, moving beautifully in the breeze. Then, as autumn arrives, the ends of the leaves turn to a warm shade of copper. An exceptionally attractive little grass, 'Sunrise' looks particularly good planted in groups in a gravel garden, or on its own in an architectural pot for a contemporary balcony or patio feature. 'Sunrise' will thrive in sun or partial shade and is completely winter hardy to -20°C as well as being drought tolerant. It needs no maintenance apart from the trimming of faded flower stems if you wish, but if left on the plant they give attractive winter interest, especial during a frost. Supplied as an established plant in a 9cm pot, ready to plant and growing to a height of 70cm (2½ft) and a spread of 30cm (1ft).
Create a summer garden full of gorgeous Dahlias that your neighbours are guaranteed to envy. These fabulous Dahlia 'Tahiti Sunrise' will grab the attention of everyone who sees them. These incredible semi-cactus dahlias produced clusters of almost tubular petals that fan out to create a spikey effect. Each incredible bi-coloured petal is a bright sunshine yellow at the base and an even more striking pink at the tips. In bloom from June and right through to the first frosts in Autumn, they are easy to grow and packed full of energy to burst into growth in Spring and produce a mass of bright colours which will pepper your garden like gemstones as Summer turns to Autumn. Dahlias are perfect for planting in your bed, borders, patio pots and containers. They also make fabulous cut flowers so pick a bunch of these pastel beauties to bring into your home for amazing colour. Dahlias will need some winter protection if you want them to return next year, we recommend that you dig them up before the first frost arrives and keep them stored over the winter. Supplied as a pack of 3 tubers, ready to plant out.
'Sunkiss' is a wonderfully bushy and compact Coreopsis and certainly one of the most colourful perennials that you can grow. With its long flowering season, it's a must-have for any gardener! Masses of daisy-like, bright golden yellow flowers with rich maroon centres appear from May and continue right up to October, covering the plant in vibrant colour. They're much larger than those of most other Coreopsis and their colouring is amazingly intense, shining out in the garden like miniature sunflowers, and they last well in a vase too. Bees and butterflies love their nectar and birds will feast on the seeds, making these ideal plants for bringing wildlife into your garden. Also known as tickseed, Coreopsis in a native of North American prairies and is extremely rugged, easy to grow and drought tolerant. Grown in patio pots and in flower borders, you'll be treated to month after month of vivid colour with almost no maintenance, just regular deadheading to keep the flowers coming until autumn. Supplied as 3 x established plants in 9cm pots, ready for planting and growing to a height and spread of 35cm (14in).