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-bottomed voluptuousness, but as the summer wears on and autumn looms this look fades away and everything is so much more relaxed. Most plants that flower at this time of year have more of a 'what-the-hell' attitude. Imagine that your garden was a pair of ever changing

I'm a sucker for summer-flowering bulbs, and at this time of year I always get carried away. March is an expensive month — I'm often tempted to order far too many summer bulbs from both mail-order companies and the internet.I use the term 'bulb

it is occasionally used as a mild sedative, being considered a remedy for anxiety and insomnia. The flowers of cultivated forms of primrose can be used in salads. For the more adventurous primrose growers, the young leaves make an interesting vegetable if steamed

the distractions of computers and mobile phones, it seems that 11-year-old young ladies still imagine themselves frolicking in a flower garden with a trug across their arm.We've already got a bed of blood-red dahlias, which provide a lot of flowers for the house

In 1985, Chris Baines created the first ever wildlife garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. Apparently it caused quite a stir - wildflowers in those days were often dismissed as 'weeds' - and his medal was mistakenly inscribed "Chris Baines, for a

in the rain, so I get to see them, eat my lunch in the morning to avoid time-wasting lunch queues. There's no point in dressing up and trying to look pretty, it only ends in tears by about 11.30am. Sensible shoes and a sturdy rucksack are the only way to go

it is unlucky in that its flowering coincides with the flowering of daffodils and by that time I have had enough of yellow.I adore tulips. The photograph above, by the way, is of a species of tulip called tarda and is there, not because it is ugly but because

Fill gaps in flower beds with primulas and polyanthusPrune forsythia and flowering currants as soon as flowers have fadedLeave daffodil foliage intact for at least six weeks after flowering to regenerate bulbs, so they'll bloom again next year

Tie in shoots of clematis and climbers to trellis and supportsPlant out chrysanthemums for autumn flowersPrune overgrown Clematis montana after flowering, cutting lanky growth back hard to promote new shoots from the baseLift and divide congested

Deadhead winter-flowering pansies and bedding plants, and pick off damaged leavesDivide congested herbaceous perennialsPrune winter jasmine to cut back flowered shootsTransplant shrubs growing in the wrong place while they're dormantPlant lily