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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

entering your garden with decent fencing. The RHS have a list of plants that are less likely to be eaten by deer, which includes the very curious fact that they don't generally eat berberis, except for purple-leaved varieties.Failing that they make very

repeated each year!First on my list of 'revolutions' is the vow to improve my meagre success with carrots. Only the purple varieties seem to work for me, so I'll be sticking with them in 2009; I think I'll skip a year before trying orange cultivars again

of blossom to choose from that it all gets a bit confusing. But my top five at the moment are: Prunus 'Taihaku' - its white flowers have centres the colour of jam stains Prunus cerasifera 'Nigra' - its purple leaves are interesting Prunus 'Cheal's Weeping

ball sized flowers of A. 'Purple Sensation', the drumsticks of A. sphaerocephalon or the starry heads of A. christophii), I’m particularly fond of the greater subtlety of nectaroscordum.The fresh green leaves start appearing in late February - earlier

).There are some fine garden equivalents as well: it would be a mistake to allow the wild version into your garden as it is terribly profligate in its habits and will self-seed everywhere. In particular Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing' that has deep purple leaves

're tall and straight, with green curved leaves and beautiful globes of purple flowers. Being a member of the allium family, leek flowers are a magnet for honeybees and bumblebees, which seem to spend hours moving from one globe to another.The flowers

. 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

in our awards with 10 per cent of votes, and this is one of my favourites too. The tender bedding varieties are good, but 'Homestead Purple' is almost hardy, so survives most winters outside. It got through last winter in my midlands garden, so

or Kenya.I sowed the delicious variety ‘Purple Tee-Pee’ 15cm apart in large, 60cm pots, filled with recycled compost from earlier sowings and the dregs of various bags that were lying around. The pot was situated on the path of my greenhouse