The perfect choice for adding some lively interest to your summer borders. Its zany blooms also make excellent cut flowers for adding vivid colour to a bouquet or indoor vase.

• Half-Hardy
• Flowering Period: July– November

• Any fertile, humus-rich, moist but well-drained soil
• Full Sun / Partial Shade
• Plant outside after risk of frost has passed, 15cm deep, 60cm apart; or start off in pots under glass in late winter to early spring.

Feed weekly, and water well in hot weather. The tall flower stems will require staking and tying in, but this is well worth the trouble for the magnificent display that they produce. Larger flowers can be obtained by pinching out the side buds and just keeping the terminal buds. Lift the tubers once the foliage has died back and store in a frost-free location in slightly moist sand or compost.