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, flowers June/July.Allium moly 'Jeannine': double stemmed with yellow flowers. Height 0.5m, flowers May/June.Allium unifolium: a pink flowered variety, shortish (25cm) but good for cutting. Height 0.5m, flowers May/June.

by making use of pale, pastel colours.White, cream, pale yellow, lilac, light mauve and pale pink show up best. Add variegated plants for splashes of cream, yellow and white. There are various degrees of shade. Light shade means slight shade for all or most

.We feed the plants with a little diluted comfrey solution during the growing season, and top-dress them with fresh compost (and gravel) in autumn. To prevent disease, we remove yellowing leaves as soon as we see them, and to promote further flowering we

pink flowers in shade, even right in among the roots of mature trees.Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae (wood spurge)This is a really good, spreading ground cover for dark areas. It is evergreen, with acid-greenish-yellow bracts, which really light up

're usually grown in the UK as annuals, chilli plants (native to South and Central America) are perennial, so overwintering them shouldn't be a problem, if you live somewhere nice and hot. The theory is that if they survive winter, the plants flower and fruit

, this spreading plant features clumps of strappy leaves alongside sprays of trumpet flowers in shades of red, yellow and orange.My top plants for extending colourCrocosmiaThis plant is ideal for the no-fuss gardener. The large, long-lasting flowers in pinks

, about 45cm tall, with tiny flowers on long stems as delicate as the legs of a newborn giraffe. It goes beautifully with grasses.Unsurprisingly, pinks don't come in blue, orange or yellow - although it's possible to dye the flowers by leaving a cut stalk

woad body paint terrorising Romans. The plant from which this comes is Isatis tinctoria and, oddly, it is not even faintly blue, but very yellow.I was reminded of this by a quick preview visit to Jekka McVicar's stand at this year's Chelsea Flower Show

. In borders, team them with strong architectural plants, such as the dwarf variegated Phormium 'Yellow Wave' and Fatsia japonica. Or, if you prefer the softer look of prairie-style planting, try mixing them with soft orange Achillea millefolium 'Terracotta

cottage, where a mix of flowers and foliage veer towards the sultry end of the spectrum - orange, red, warm yellow and lots of bronze foliage to help the whole picture seethe and simmer. The huge, blatant flowers of the poppy always get the season off to a