Sow some biennial beauty

It's time to start thinking about next spring, says Ruth

- Ruth Hayes

BIENNIALS are some of the best plants to grow and midsummer is the perfect time to start sowing them. Wallflowers, honesty, sweet rocket, foxgloves - they are all biennials and worth growing.

They are easy to grow and a brilliant way of filling the 'colour gap' we sometimes get between spring bulbs and summer's flamboyance.

Biennials are plants that produce foliage and strong roots one year, go dormant through winter, then start to grow again the following spring before flowering, setting seed and dying back.

Sown now, they will be large enough to be planted in the garden this autumn for next year's display. Alternatively, they can be kept in pots over winter and planted out in spring.