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Dahlias come in a fascinating variety of shapes and sizes, and the pom-pom types, with their rows of incurved petals, resemble old-fashioned bathing caps. Dahlia 'Franz Kafka' lends itself - ironically, given its name - to a relaxed cottage-garden

Add a cottage-garden feel to your patio with this simple pot project. The trio of narcissus, carex and aubretia provides instant colour, as plants can be bought in flower. If other spring flowers catch your eye at the garden centre, you could use

, while ScotiaLass chose Skimmia 'Rubella', honeysuckle, philadelphus and the old cottage garden pink 'Mrs Sinkins'.Lili went for spring-flowering viburnum ("the smell is exquisite"), while Diane recommended jasmine. Others favoured lilies, geum, nicotiana

browning leaves or spent blooms.More hanging basket inspirationCreate a subtle hanging basket display of pelargonium and suteraPot up a hanging basket with geraniums and verbenaCreate a cottage garden look with a display of begonia, marguerite, plectranthus

.Summer hanging basket inspiration and adviceMake a pelargonium, begonia and sutera hanging basketPot up a hanging basket with geraniums and verbenaCreate a cottage garden look with a display of begonia, marguerite, plectranthus and verbenaPlant up an edible herb

friend who has a plot in the heart of the city centre.Like lots of allotmenteers, she lives in a flat with no garden, so her plot is always a riot of colour, with spring plantings of tulips, daffodils and wallflowers, followed by cottage garden

flying start.In a small garden, there might only be room for one clump of poppies, in which case it should be thoughtfully combined with its co-performers.At Glebe cottage, in the beds which make up Alice's Garden (Alice is our youngest daughter

leaved shrub for a sheltered corner. I first saw this at the marvellous Stone House Cottage Gardens. The flowers are exquisite, like an underwater pincushion (and if my new garden is somewhere warm I will get fruit as well).Persicaria polymorpha

the compost regularly to make sure it doesn't dry out and take off any browning leaves or spent blooms.More hanging basket ideasPot up a hanging basket with geraniums and verbenaCreate a cottage garden look with a display of begonia, marguerite, plectranthus

to the way presenters engage with the garden.I'd rather see presenters gardening in their own garden any day, much as we've enjoyed when visiting Carol Klein in her garden at Glebe Cottage.Monty's views in his piece in today's Daily Mail reflect my own. He