Felixstowe Radio 107.5fm
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Great for fragrance as well as colour are the wallflowers. But flowering times can be confusing!

The ‘Sunset’ wallflowers are planted now for spring flowers. Best for borders they get to a decent size – as much as two foot height and spread.

The ‘Sugar Rush’ wallflowers are smaller, more compact, are great for good-sized planters … and give you two seasons of flowering, coming into bloom in autumn and then again in spring-time.

Both types attract the bees and are the perfect foil for your spring-flowering bulbs.

Not sure what sort of Cyclamen you want?

At this time of year you will find the bedding varieties in the shop. These can cope with light frosts and can be grown indoors as well as outdoors, and usually only last for one winter. They are very showy and bring some zing with their dense heads of flowers and neat habits.

Further into the season you can get the woodland varieties, including ‘hederifolium’ and ‘coum’. These are much more subtle than the bedding varieties, with sparser and more delicate leaves and flowers. They are, however, much tougher and should come back year after year.

Many people think that you need acidic soil to grow heathers. Well, it depends on the variety! Check the label for the proper Latin name.

If it says ‘Erica’ you can grow it in neutral and alkaline soils - which is what most of us have in Suffolk - and in multipurpose compost in pots.

The ‘Calluna’ heathers, on the other hands, will be much happier in ericaceous compost and acidic soils.

So the not-very-helpful way to remember it is that Ericas do not need ericaceous compost.

All are great for winter displays, in borders and as centrepieces for pots and baskets. They keep their leaves year-round, are very low-maintenance and provide much-needed nectar for the bees at a time when little else is in flower.

A phrase that should send the Uncommitted Gardener fleeing. Translation: Plant will be tattered and battered by winds; plant will keel over and smother & kill neighbouring plants. Translation: right load of hassle. Avoid.

Or course if you are happy to spend your precious pennies on decorative hoops and obelisks that are three times the cost of the plant they are holding up, or the thought of constructing an intricate supporting web of sticks, canes and twine fills you with delight, then fill your boots.

Bear in mind that plant breeders know what the modern gardener wants, and that is not A Right Load of Hassle.

Get some height the easy way with new, shorter varieties of sturdy shrubs such as Buddleias, Philadelphus (aka mock orange) and Lavateras (mallows). And if you still desire some of those cottage garden classics, you can also now get shorter versions of the likes of Delphiniums and Dahlias, stumpy enough to hold themselves up without assistance.

Geums are a plant that deserve to be better known! They come back year after year, are not fussy about where they grow, and they have a small ‘footprint’ which allows the flower stems to mingle with their neighbours.

They have a long flowering season too. To keep them looking good, go out every now and then to snip off the old flowers back to the next bud.

Once the plant has run out of buds it is time for something more drastic, as you can see!