Time to refresh bedding

Get ready for a summer of brilliant colours, says Ruth

- Ruth Hayes

THERE is something joyous about filling your beds, borders and containers with brightly coloured one-season wonders guaranteed to jazz up the garden for the next few months.

Buying summer bedding is exciting and intimidating in equal measure because there is so much choice, and it is increasing every year as new varieties come online.

An added bonus this year is the return of pretty Impatiens, or busy Lizzies, which largely vanished a decade ago thanks to a variety-specific form of downy mildew. Breeders have managed to create two resistant varieties, 'Imara' and 'Beacon' and hopefully these will be widely available in garden centres this year.

Alongside these welcome returners there will be the traditional bedding stalwarts: the larger tuberous begonias, petunias, antirrhinums and pelargoniums, which pack a punch when planted en masse.

Cosmos in every shade from bright orange to shell pink, flamboyant zinnias, osteospermum and fuchsia - they will all be there for you to mix and match.

If you are looking for something calmer and more pastel, create a cottage garden-style effect with sweet peas, delphiniums, larkspur, corn flowers, corn cockles and clary.

The thought of all these flowers can feel like it might trigger a migraine, so you can break them up with any of the fabulous foliage plants that are widely available. The acidic leaves of coleus, cool silver tones of Cineraria and Helichrysum or frondy stems and flowers of grasses all do their  bit to break up the eyedazzling phalanxes of colour created by our summer bedding.

Many varieties are tender, so can't safely be planted out until evening temperatures remain reliably high, even in the south and in sheltered gardens.