The native Galanthus nivalis snowdrops signal winter’s end with an understated elegance. They love to shelter in dappled shade at the base of trees and shrubs, but are equally at home in an alpine garden or naturalised in grass.

These flamboyant Oriental poppies will light up your borders in late spring and early summer. They thrive in full sun and are happy in poor, dry soil. Clump-forming perennials, they create neat rosettes of deeply-cut leaves covered with coarse hairs, bringing texture to borders before the blooms appear.