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What a tremendous pleasure it is to grow sunflowers from seed. Thousands of children up and down the country sow sunflowers in spring, no doubt hoping to grow the tallest and enter the Guinness Book of Records.My sunflowers will never do

I've had mixed results with calla lilies over the years. It's getting them going in spring that's caused me problems. I don't think I provide them with enough heat as I don't want the expense of heating my greenhouse. Until two years ago, they

or we'd be left with a deciduous desert with little of interest until spring.

-sized tomatoes.I had vowed never to bother with them again, but last spring I was tempted to sow seeds of a brand new variety sent to me to trial, and set for introduction in the 2008 seed catalogues. A new variety would be worth growing, surely?In short... no

the right plant for the right place can be a difficult task, and the reality is that often the site we have is far from ideal.Take the left-hand border in my garden. A beautiful silver birch sits close to the boundary fence, but at about 10m or more

I've planted everywhere. I simply let it spring up among other plants, adding another tier of seasonal colour. Stems can be gently plucked from the soil to use as cut flowers, but I leave mine in place to enhance the display. Without tightly packed

Anemone x hybrida) always springs to mind. There are several related varieties, too, including Anemone hupehensis, all originating from the Far East from Japan to China. They shade, cope with dry sites, but doesn't seem to mind a heavy clay soil either