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shape. Although it is an old variety (1906) its beauty hasn't been eclipsed. Height 1m.Papaver 'Mrs Perry'This slightly washed-out poppy bears the name of the 20th-century artist, who scoured East Anglia in the late 1930s, looking for pale versions

.The flower stems are strong and tall, up to 1.2m (4ft), and each supports a single magnificent bloom, blood red and boldly imprinted at the base of each petal with a jet-black splodge. The stamens, arranged in a broad circle around the dark, central knob

You can easily propagate oriental poppies by taking root cuttings. They make perfect candidates for this propagation method as it exploits the plant's propensity to reproduce itself from every scrap of root left behind when plants are moved. Once

I love the way plants hold associations with places and key events in your life. Some - like pheasant's eye daffodils - I grow in my garden as a fond reminder of the childhood associations I have with them. Others somehow seem to slip the net

of yellow verbascum that has somehow sown itself into a drystone wall and (in the distance) the bristling white plumes belonging to Persicaria polymorpha.Round the corner, the Baptisia australis is spectacular and first opium poppies (Papaver somniferum

There are some plants which everyone agrees smell bad. The titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) and the dragon arum (Dracunculus vulgaris), for example, both smell like rotting corpses when in flower, to attract pollinating flies. Happily, not all

Unlocking the power of plants A herb garden is not only a place of beauty, it's also a medicine chest, holding remedies to many ailments. Discover the healing properties of the herbs in your garden.Find out how to... grow garlicUntil the 17th

Sharp sandKnife or secateursRooting hormone (optional)September 20 minutesSelect healthy, squat and fat shoots. Remove them from the parent plant by cutting immediately above a bud.Remove flower buds and lower leaves from the bottom half of each cutting

sun. It reaches 1.5m high.Eryngium giganteumHappy in woodland conditions, the yellow- or orange-flowered Welsh poppies are annuals that don't mind shade, making them perfect to weave under trees and taller shrubs.Meconopsis cambricaA cottage garden

. In terms of value, a single perennial could cost you, say, £5.00 to buy, but you could pick up a packet of Godetia Dwarf Mixed flower seed for just £1.39, and grow 1,000 plants! Yes, 1,000 seeds in a packet, and other hardy annuals offer similar great value