Gardeners’ Question Time
Humaira Ikram
Humaira’s worked as a garden designer for more than 10 years and runs a garden design course.
Matt Biggs
Matt trained at Kew and has been gardening professionally for more than 30 years.
Pippa Greenwood
Pippa is one of the foremost experts on pests and diseases. She gardens using organic methods.
Q How can I grow a succession of flowers in a 1m x 2.5m bed?
Tony, by email
A MATT SAYS Plant spring bulb displays of daffodils, muscari, scillas and tulips in aquatic baskets. Sink these into the border as they come into flower, then remove afterwards and allow to fade and die down out of the limelight.
You say you like wildflowers, so you could replace them with annual wildflowers sown in modules in autumn or bought as plug plants in spring. These can be allowed to set seed for subsequent years. You could also add longer-lasting perennial wildflowers, such as bugle (Ajuga reptans), stinking hellebores (Helleborus foetidus), deadnettles (Lamium maculatum), as well as biennials like forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica) and foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea).
To avoid gaps while plants grow to flowering size, you
