No more excuses, no more bare, broken concrete, no more empty beds denuded of life, no more forgotten corners. Even if you’re just calling it home for the summer, even if you’ll never have your name on the deeds, even if you have only one windowsill, I give you these: plants that will survive and flourish, cover and clothe and flower all summer long.
Walls, paving and concrete cracks
1 Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) makes a carpet of grey-green foliage that sticks around all year and is covered all summer in daisies that fade from white to pink. To top it all, it’s an effortless self-seeder, always choosing the best spot. Loves sun, the seaside and tiny cracks, hates very harsh winters.
2 There’s a whole gang of ground-hugging, crack-loving, wall-hanging, crevice-seeking bellflowers that will be happy in sun or part shade: try Campanula carpatica ‘Bressingham White’ (pure white), C. cochlerifolia (white to blue), C. latiloba ‘Hidcote Amethyst’ (bright blue), C. ‘Birch Hybrid’ (mauve blue), C. portenschlagiana (purple blue), C. poscharskyana (purple blue). The latter two will take quite deep shade and are guaranteed to flower all summer long. All tolerate chalk soils.
3 Alpine water fern (Blechnum penna-marina) is a handsome fern with fine, fishbone, glossy green foliage. Loves damp shade and a crumbling back wall, hates drying out.
4 Alpine lady’s mantle (Alchemilla alpina) is the tiny version of the more common lady’s mantle (A. mollis), with dainty leaves, each edged in lime green, and tiny pompoms of yellow-green flowers. It’s perfectly suited to paving crevices where, if happy, it will self-seed. You can get common lady’s mantle to do the same thing, but it gets big and boisterous.
5 Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) is born to be stepped on (the pressure helps it spread). Not so good for eating, but you’ll forgive it for its clean peppermint smell. One for the edge where it will wander into your path. Loves pollinators, hates drying out.
Dry shade
6 Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) is a wiry thing of a plant that loves deep shade and is covered in scented white flowers in late spring. Will gently spread as it ages and is unfussy. Dunk the flowers in white wine for a spring spritzer.
7 Bergenia ‘Bressingham White’ is the pure white form of the more garish pink flowers of the common bergenia, aka elephant ears. Thick, paddle-shaped evergreen leaves are crowned in clusters of flowers above the foliage in spring. Perfect under shrubs. Tolerates chalk soils and damp conditions, hates harsh winds.
8 I think of Baltic parsley (Cenolophium denudatum) as the posh cow parsley that tolerates shade. Its large, white heads of elegant flowers float above a mound of fern-like foliage. Makes a lovely cut flower, too, but won’t tolerate very dry shade, so dig in compost before planting.
9 White dusky cranesbill (Geranium phaeum ‘Album’) can take any amount of dry shade and thin soils, and still shine. This is loved by bees and easy to maintain. Give it a short back and sides after flowering and it will repeat its performance.
10 Periwinkle is often sniffed at, in part because in public spaces it seems to love to collect litter, but the lavender-blue lesser periwinkle form Vinca minor ‘La Grave’ has larger than average flowers and works well interplanted with lily of the valley, hellebores, epimediums and Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Bevans’.
Sunny gravel gardens
11 As the name suggests, the globe thistle Echinops bannaticus ‘Taplow Blue’ has perfect grey-blue globes of flowers: that is if you can see them for all the bees they attract. At 1.5 metres it is taller than E. ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’ (also worth growing) and will tolerate the thinnest of baked soils. It won’t self-seed, which you’ll be pleased about because it’s quite hard to get rid of once settled.
12 Alpine sea holly (Eryngium alpinum) has brilliant sky blue, teasel-like flowers surrounded by prickly bracts that look like an Elizabethan ruff. It is a problem-free plant for dry, chalky soil. Easy to grow from seed and doesn’t tend to self-seed.
13 Sedum ‘Herbstfreude’ is drought tolerant and makes a more compact, neater plant in thin, well-drained soils. (In more lush conditions it flops open; ‘Matrona’ is a better choice for fertile spots.) It has huge plates of tiny star-shaped pink flowers that darken with age before drying to a russet orange that stands well in winter. Loved by butterflies and bees.
14 Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii) is best when starved a little in thin soils. Has long oblong grey-green leaves with huge drumstick heads of green-yellow flowers. Resents a harsh wind, loves baking in the sun.
15 Take your pick from the oreganos: you can have Origanum vulgare to eat, or go for the more showy O. laevigatum ‘Herrenhausen’ with its wiry stems of tiny purple flowers, which looks good next to grey-blue foliage. O. rossenkuppel with its bright pink flowers works with pastel shades.
Containers
16 There are endless shades of tobacco plant (Nicotiana x sanderae), from white-and-lime green to pastel pink. These tender annual bedding plants are surprisingly drought-tolerant, happy in sun or shade, but they benefit from regular feeding. Plant out after the last frosts.
17 Nasturtium ‘Empress of India’ has deep red, almost velvet-like flowers against dark foliage. Ideal for containers, hanging baskets and window boxes in full sun. Easy to grow from seed, but plant no more than two per container.
18 Fuchsia ‘Whiteknights Pearl’ is delicate, refined, elegant; the very opposite of the garish purple and pink you expect from fuchsias. Slender, palest pink flowers appear from June to October. Happy in shade, but won’t tolerate hard frosts.
19 Chilli pepper ‘Numex Twilight’ is a tiny chilli suited to sunny windowsills (inside in winter, outside in the summer). Fruits start purple and ripen to yellow, orange and finally red; it packs a punch in cooking.
20 Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ is indestructible for sun or shade. It has dark purple foliage with an almost metallic sheen. Tiny white flowers float above the foliage in summer, attracting plenty of pollinators. Keep moist for lush foliage. See below for plant offer.
Damp places
21 Fish mint (Houttuynia cordata) loves pond margins and reliably damp spots. I grow mine in a tiny pond. It’s edible, used in Thai dishes for its strange fish-like flavours; it’s also pretty, with heart-shaped leaves and tiny white flowers in spring. ‘Chameleon’ is a variegated pink, purple and white variety if you’re feeling colourful.
22 Sanguisorbas are ideal for any soil that doesn’t dry out excessively, so if you are prone to flooding, these may work well for you. White burnet (S. canadensis) is particularly robust, growing to 1.8m tall with wonderful bottle-brush upright flowers. Great burnet (S. officinalis) is our native, crimson version, perfect for wild gardens.
23 Royal fern (Osmunda regalis) is as regal and stately as its name suggests. Upright, bright green, finely divided leaves unfurl in spring; it has distinct spore-bearing rusty orange fronds in summer, but in autumn the whole thing turns red. Perfect for margins of a stream, pond or damp border. Grows to 2 metres tall.
24 Giant cowslip (Primula florindae) is ideal for reliably moist, shady places. It will self-seed and spread, tolerating acid and clay soils. It is deciduous with surprisingly tough, but fresh green leaves in spring and sulphur-yellow flowers in early summer. Often repeat flowers if you cut back early. Candelabra primrose (P. prolifera) is another good choice, being evergreen with tiers of golden yellow flowers. Mealy primrose (P. pulverulenta) has dark red to red-purple flowers from late spring to early summer.
Photograph: John Glover / Alamy/Alamy
25 Don’t have space for the monstrous leaves of a gunnera? Rodgersia is the plant for you. Rodgersia podophylla grows to only 1.5m tall and the same again wide. It has architectural, deeply lobed, glossy dark green leaves that are bronze-coloured when young, and sprays of creamy white flowers in summer. Rodgersia tolerates clay and will spread, but suffers in cold, drying winds
Plant offer
Buy a two-litre potted Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ for £9.99, or two for £16.99, plus £4.95 p&p per order. Call 0330 333 6790, quoting ref GU516. Or shop online at shop.theguardian.com/GU516. Dispatched in four to six weeks.
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