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There's something really rewarding about cupping your hand under an old foxglove flower, tapping it gently and collecting the seeds that cascade out of it. It must be something like collecting coins from a slot machine when you've hit the jackpot

Last spring I found a foxglove seedling in a pot, which had presumably self-seeded from a neighbour's garden. Excited, I potted it on and nurtured it in anticipation of seeing it flower this year. (Foxgloves are biennial, so flower in their second

clumps of primulas and polyanthusSow seeds of foxgloves, honesty and wallflowers

Prune out old stems of elder (Sambucus) to promote new growth from the baseCut back last year's buddleia stems to ground levelHard prune trees that respond to pollarding, such as willows, the foxglove tree (Paulownia) and Eucalyptus gunnii

seed heads to keep them floweringShorten shoots on choisya to encourage a second flush of flowersFeed roses to keep them flowering stronglyPinch out the shoot tips on fuchsias and bedding plants for bushier growthSave seed from foxgloves and sow right

to propagate including aquilegia, polemonium and foxglovesIdentify rose problems and pick off diseased leavesPrune philadelphus, weigela and other early summer-flowering shrubsPropagate lily bulbs by taking off a few outer scales and putting them in bags

nibbled by caterpillars and I don't have any white foxgloves.The planting schemes in many of the gardens this year were superb. The Bradstone Biodiversity Garden was richly planted with cirsium, alliums, aquilegia and iris, and it seemed to be doing

Collect and sow seed from foxglovesTake cuttings from pinks (Dianthus)Prune philadelphus after flowering, removing stems carrying old flowers. Cut out very weak stems and some of the oldest woodFeed dahlias with a liquid fertiliser and ensure plants

an explosion of flowers the next year.Compost your kitchen and garden wasteTop up water levels in garden ponds if they are getting low Push canes in around tall plants like gladioli and lilies Around the gardenCollect and sow seed from foxglovesTake cuttings

'd carefully selected some pretty and nicely scented nectar sources, the bumbles were ignoring us, zooming past to visit the foxgloves less than a metre away. It was not that our flowers were poorer quality, or less nectar-productive, it was just