Gardening: Now it's time to let your foliage shine | Brian Kidd

Now, many of them are in bloom and on most herbaceous plants those flowers last only for about three weeks.

Many gardeners choose plants with beautiful leaves so once the flowers fade there will be an attractive ground covering of foliage. Hosta, iris, ladies’ mantle, rodgersia. and red hot pokers are some of those with unique foliage. I didn’t mention ornamental grasses because I don’t like them. They’re not all that attractive to wildlife in our garden at home.

I do love to see how other gardeners use plants with attractive leaves. As an example you will not beat the combination of flag iris growing alongside any variety of hosta, a species most of us adore.

I was only 12 when I saw my first variegated hosta at RHS Wisley. My dad spent five shillings (25p today but a fortune then) on a single plant with only three leaves, just for me. To give you some idea… in those days you could have the best seat at the pictures (the cinema to younger readers) for 1s 9d (9p today)!

So, what can we do to make an herbaceous border more attractive for most of the summer?

It is possible to add plants to a border of perennials by adding annuals. These are sown from seed about February in the greenhouse so they are large with flower buds and will look lovely when planted out in June.

One of the finest is called salpiglossis, a glorious annual, about 45cm (18in) tall with flowers almost the same as petunias but the flowers are striped with rich blue, mauve and yellow stripes and patches. It is rarely seen these days yet it is more glamorous than an orchid.

You may have a huge pelargonium zonale, yes, an ordinary geranium which has been growing indoors for years. Give it a holiday in the garden. Water the pot, plant into the ground with a scattering of blood fish and bone and the old girl will burst into bloom three weeks later and will continue flowering right up until the frosts arrive when it can be brought indoors again.

Begonias of all kinds are welcome. The huge flowers on the tuberous types are stunning and so easy to plant between herbaceous clumps. But the begonia semperflorens, often used in flower beds, look great in groups through the border, not just as an edging plant.

My favourite though is cosmos, also known as cosmea.

It is important to ensure the eventual height of the plant is understood because plants range in size from about a foot to three feet.

In our border at home we have a scattering all through the border so there are blooms every day from now right up until that first frost. We plant quite a few because bees adore them.

Cosmea are available in pots at garden centres. They are in bloom now so the right colours can be chosen. They will be tall at this time of year and are simply knocked out of the pots and planted between herbaceous perennials.

My final suggestion is the dahlia. The single blooms grown from seed are the cheapest costing between 25p and 75p per pot. Heights vary and the plants flower well all summer as long as dead blooms are picked off regularly.

They are very good for arranging indoors too but if you can get hold of a dahlia catalogue there are literally hundreds of varieties ranging from the tiny pompom blooms right up to blooms as large as dinner plates. I love the water lily types best, then the cactus forms.

This week’s top tip

Enjoy eating strawberries from the garden but get into the habit of taking a bucket with you so that weeds can be put into it.

Strawberry plants quickly become smothered in weeds.

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