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-looking rhizomes that can be planted up in February or March in a heated propagator, planting several in one pot to create a bushier display. Later in the year you may find young plants for sale, possibly flowering ones.When I edited a magazine called 'Greenhouse

, but I like the upright ones with big double blooms packed like petticoats with swirling layers of petals.The large flowers are quite heavy, so to avoid plants toppling over I always grow begonias in terracotta pots instead of lightweight plastic ones. I

in height its spreading branches cast quite a shadow over the bed below. Being a deciduous tree its full canopy doesn't really develop until later in May, so many early flowering plants have time to bloom before the shade takes over.My star performer over

.Once planted, my flower borders go into overdrive, spreading as they want with very little direction from me. Neighbouring plants mix and mingle, looking far more natural to my eye than carefully orchestrated displays. One spreader I love is alstroemeria, which

, but it's their striking flowers most people are after. Their blooms are really spathes; bright trumpets at the tip of a stem, with a graceful twist and pointed tip unlike the flowers of anything else you're likely to grow.It's surprising that some

bulb was planted straight away in its own 20cm pot. These were grown on in my unheated greenhouse for a few months as I watched each produce a tall stem tipped with flower buds, before I planted them out in a group. The resulting lily 'forest', pictured

If you want fast fruit then look no further than strawberries. From rather unpromising cold-stored runners, foliage will develop in days, flowers in weeks, with ripe fruit ready for picking in about two months.Commercially available strawberry

available in garden centres really worth the investment? Some are extremely well made, but at a price. And others don't really look in keeping with my natural-looking flower border. In fact, they can stick out like a sore thumb, especially if the plants don

, such as flower form, colour and scent, with the repeat-flowering characteristics and performance of new varieties. This was admirably captured in 'Graham Thomas', one of his first English roses.I was charmed by 'Graham Thomas' from the moment I set eyes on it. I

. The problem with bindweed is that it gets into flower borders, where its thick white roots mingle with those of perennials and shrubs, making it very, very hard to dig out. I've tried to remove bindweed, but even the tiniest piece of root left in the soil can