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Gardeners' World Live is not, and has no desire to be, like the Chelsea Flower Show. There are no enormously expensive show gardens, no conspicuous champagne consumption and very few people wearing flowery hats.Instead it is a much more down

With 23 days to go until we build our display at the Chelsea Flower Show, the first buds of pot marigolds, Calendula officinalis, are showing. Their timing couldn't have been more perfect.The marigolds will be in full flower in time for the show

. Its preference for wild flowers (ladies’ smock, garlic mustard and hedge mustard) rather than cultivated brassicas means that it's less persecuted, but is also more easily overlooked.A few minutes later a holly blue, Celastrina argiolus, appeared

I'm sure there has been research done on how the colour of food affects our attitude to it. If it looks good then it hopefully tastes good too, but who wants to eat blue potatoes, purple carrots or orange cauliflowers?When it comes to salads I want

favourite, the meadow cranesbill is a perennial that flowers in June and grows well in an open spot. Taller stems can grow to 90cm high.Geranium pratenseForget-me-nots will pop up everywhere to create a frothy blue cloud, but are easy to pull out if you have

for another list...My favourite late-flowering perennial plants, in no particular order:Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm' - about 75cm high. Flowers until at least mid-October.Agastache 'Blue Fortune' - not one one for very cold parts

In the heat of summer, this showy pot will bring a taste of the tropics to your garden. The huge, red-tinged banana leaves flounce above a frothy skirt of blue-grey parrot's beak and honey bush, and fiery begonias. April - JuneJune - September30

for the one with the AGM sticker. But back to my confusing list of alliums, I notice that there are fifteen AGM plants. To make your job of choosing them even simpler, here are my top five:Allium caeruleum: a late-flowering, small-headed blue variety. Height 0

', blue clouds of catmint and Russian sage.Planting companionsSome shrubs also make great companions, such as euphorbias, geums and Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing' with the warmer-coloured iris flowers, or cistus and artemisia for the cool blues

hyacinth produces a mini forest of stems, each carrying a small head of flower. It comes in blue, pink and white, and I'm hoping that a single bulb per pot will produce a really good display.