LET’S talk bedding. And, no, I don’t mean sheets and duvets. It’s an old-fashioned word that, in the 1950s and ’60s, implied rows of bright but temporary garden colour in summer or spring – commonly salvia, lobelia and alyssum. These days, it’s almost an insult. Say ‘bedding’ to people and they think of dumpy little plants and crude colour clashes – no elegance, no style and no subtlety.
But that couldn’t be further from what bedding can – and should – be. Since the late 1970s, the range of seasonal flowers available has increased at an incredible rate, and we now have
