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I'm sure there has been research done on how the colour of food affects our attitude to it. If it looks good then it hopefully tastes good too, but who wants to eat blue potatoes, purple carrots or orange cauliflowers?When it comes to salads I want

Picos Blue - I know, I have mentioned that one as well but this is a picture of the one in my garden.Eryngium padanifolium 'Physic Purple' - a South American variety that has very striking muddy red flowers. The leaves are fleshy and viciously spiked

20,000 — so I try to visit as many of them as possible at this time of year. This is partly to see the fruits of all that labour, but also to make notes ready for the next planting season in autumn. Generally, as my family will happily tell you, I am

stripes with age. It rarely flowers, but may produce beautiful pink, puffball blooms. Albizia julibrissin grows to a height of 12m.Albizia julibrissinThe paper-bark maple is a slow-growing small tree with dark green leaves that turn a rich, crimson colour

ShowVegetables at the Chelsea Flower Show, with Alice Fowler's top 10 veg varieties to grow for beginners.

combined with Phormium 'Bronze Baby' for height, along with nasturtiums and purple basil for good measure.Top container annualsCoreopsis tinctoria 'Mahogany Midget'The cottage-garden feel of these daisy-like flowers adds a sense of informality and movement

gardener needs, but as soon as those big, bold blooms open it's bound to rain and shatter the petals. In the blink of an eye it's all over and I've got to wait another year for them to flower again.My problem is that I love plants, and have to admit

varieties available offering the usual purple flowers or a pure white form, and even one that produces attractive variegated foliage (not sure if this is quite to my taste).If budgets are currently tight it’s worth asking gardening friends whether they have

. I had a bit of a gap into which I decided to plant the following:Thalictrum delaveyii - five foot tall. Drop dead gorgeous.Patrinia scabiosifolia - strong yellowy colour. No nonsense.Monarda 'Purple Ann' - a pinky red varietyMathiasella bulpeuroides

to the sweet pea.The best I can find is a cowboy song that was a hit in 1966 "Sweet pea / Apple of my eye /  Don't know when and I don't know why". Nice but not exactly horticulturally relevant.*Anyway, sweet peas are flowering now. Lathyrus odoratus