Pretty FILLERS

Choose these speedy growers to fill your borders pronto with beautiful flowers

The good old-fashioned shrubby mallows or lavatera are useful plants for starting a new garden from scratch, as they will fill a gaping hole, even at the back of a border, in just one season. With speed they produce thousands of hibiscus- or hollyhock-like flowers that cover the entire plant continuously from June right through to October, which is just the job while you are waiting for slower shrubs and perennials to reach their full potential!

Although a short-lived shrub, lavatera grows extremely quickly, often putting on around a metre of growth in one season. It thrives in undernourished and dry soils, as well as hot spots with relentless sun, and flowers with very little attention – whatever the weather.

It’s a perfect plant for family gardens where branches might get snapped by children or pets, as it will just pump out more of the voluptuous, silky blooms, which are a magnet to bees and other pollinators.

Despite being able to withstand temperatures down to -15°C, on exposed sites it’s best to give the plant twiggy supports to prevent high winds crushing it. If it does get battered, all is not lost as pruning will resolve the problem. In mid-spring, simply reach for your loppers and cut all the stems back to 30cm off the ground.

You can grow annual varieties of lavatera from seed sown in spring and fill borders with glowing pink and white flowers.

Blooms are up to 10cm across, held above dark green leaves on plants that will shoot up to around 1m tall.