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business, but I remember pouring over old Kelways catalogues, crammed with colour plates of pristine fields with row upon row of pink, purple, white and red peonies. How I would love to have seen them. People must have travelled miles for a peony pilgrimage

spathes in pale shades of pink, yellow and cream through to white, and lance-shaped leaves. Elliottiana hybrids have wonderfully speckled leaves and bright, brash spathes, while the rehmannii hybrids have mainly deeper green leaves and often deep purple

was loading cans of paint and three new plants into my boot! Each plant had produced numerous short, branched stems topped by a characteristic cluster of violet/purple flowers. They've made their home in a large terracotta pot, planted simply as a group

more (that's a topic for another day).So, what are the alternatives? There are quite a few annual climbers to choose from actually. Morning glory (ipomoea) is popular, but their flowers are all too short-lived. The purple bell vine (rhodochiton) is nice