Summer
The best plants for August
As summer reaches its peak Tom Brown, the head gardener at West Dean Gardens, picks his favourite August flowers. Photographs Jason Ingram
20 great flowers for drying: experts pick the garden flowers that will look perfect when you dry them
Preserve the fleeting summer beauty of your garden by drying flowers to enjoy year round indoors. We’ve asked three expert growers to recommend the best dried flowers to grow
The best and most beautiful garden plants for butterflies that you will love too
Make your garden attractive to vital pollinators with these suggestions of plants that butterflies love
56 beautiful, bee-friendly plants that will make your garden buzz
Create a buzz in your garden by adding the plants that bees love best.
Reducing plastic in your garden and allotment
The invention of plastic changed how we gardened forever. Now it is everywhere, here's why we need to deal carefully with our plastic usage and how to get closer to a zero waste garden. llustration Vicki Turner
Sunflowers: the best varieties and how to grow
Sunflowers' robust nature and blooms beaming with good-natured, bucolic honesty make them worthy of a place in any garden. Writer and gardener Matthew Biggs is your guide to growing sunflowers and chooses his favourite cultivars. Photographs Jason Ingram
A stylish summer container display using Pelargonium 'White Boar'
Head gardener Thomas Unterdorfer shows how to create a stunning container display with a gently wild style for early summer. Photographs Andrew Montgomery
How and when to prune lavender and the best lavender varieties for your garden
Fragrant, drought tolerant and easy to grow, lavenders are popular plants that suit many different styles of garden. Discover more with our lavender expert grow guide.
Words: Janice Shipp, Photograhs: Annaick Guitteny
Beautiful pink, orange, red and white poppies for your garden and how to care for them
The scarlet poppy may be one of the most instantly recognisable flowers, but with more than 70 species of Papaver, in a range of shapes and colours, there’s one for every garden. Plant expert John Hoyland picks the best and gives his growing advice
The best cosmos to grow
Cosmos are as brilliant in the garden as they are in the vase. Plant expert Graham Rice chooses his favourite cosmos varieties to grow, and gives advice on sowing and growing them. Photographs by Jason Ingram
The best plants for July
Discover some of the best July flowers and plants including a graceful daylily and a dwarf, claret sunflower. Photographs Jason Ingram
The beautiful plants you'll find in a meadow and why planting up a meadow is a hard, but brilliant way to increase biodiversity
The best plants for a meadow recommended from Manor Farm and a modernist house in California specialising in structural meadow plants
As our climate gets hotter, we may see fewer white plants
Plant ecologist Ken Thompson explains the effect that climate change could have on the colour of your plants
Rudbeckia: how to grow and care for rudbeckia
Vibrant rudbeckias bring bold colour to the garden in late summer and autumn. Here's how to grow them, and the best varieties to choose
The best summer flowers to plant
Make sure you've got the perfect blooms in the garden for summer. Tom Brown, head gardener and tutor at West Dean College, recommends his favourites. Photographs by Jason Ingram
The best drought tolerant plants to grow to combat drier summers and warmer weather
Looking to add more drought tolerant plants to your garden? Annie Godfrey of Daisy Roots nursery recommends some of the best drought tolerant plants.
Hollyhocks: how to grow alcea
Hollyhocks are famously tall and pretty, and if you grow them as annuals, they should stay healthy and strong. Planstman John Hoyland is your guide on how to grow hollyhocks, while John and Becky Crowley both recommend their favourite cultivars. Photographs Torie Chugg and Annaïck Guitteny
30 plants that will make your garden look good all year-round
These hard-working plants provide several seasons of interest in your garden through flowers, fruit, foliage, bark and even spring shoots
When to water plants in hot weather
In the heatwave, make sure you're watering your plants at the right time of day
34 beautiful white flowers to grow
Discover some of the most beautiful white flowers around and learn how to make a stunning white border to delight from early spring to late summer
Alliums aren’t just for spring – keep those purple globes going all summer with these amazing new varieties
Loved for their showy spheres, alliums have long been stalwarts of late spring, but now new introductions are extending the party through summer. Our summer-flowering allium grow guide explains the best varieties to grow, how to care for them and where to plant.
How to grow Persicaria
Persicaria are versatile perennials with late season, brightly coloured flower spikes on hearty green plants from July through to late October. Plantsman Rory Dusoir shares his advice on how to grow persicaria and where to plant it. Photographs Dianna Jazwinski
Everything you need to know about eryngiums
As varied in form as they are widespread, sea hollies lend instant character to a planting scheme with their sculptural bearing and shimmering colour. Photographs by Jason Ingram
Wondering what jobs to get done this summer? Let Sissinghurst's expert head gardener guide you
Sissinghurst’s head gardener Troy Scott Smith guides us through the jobs that he and his team do in summer. Images by John Campbell