Biennial Flowers - Sow, wait and be amazed

Biennial flowers are small promises in the garden year. They germinate quietly in their first year, often overwinter unnoticed, and then give you their big performance in the second. A little patience is repaid with abundant flower, old-fashioned charm and valuable forage for insects. Many of these biennials have been among the garden's quiet stars for centuries.

Flowers with a two-year life cycle are typically sown in summer or early autumn. The first year produces sturdy leaf rosettes that usually come through winter without trouble. The following spring they stretch upwards and open their often spectacular flowers. Many of these species are hardy, need little care and hold their place in the garden for good by self-seeding.

This category brings together biennials for the summer border and old garden treasures such as foxglove, hollyhock, dame's violet and mullein. Many of them are good for bees and lend any flower bed a natural elegance.

Sow biennial flowers from June onwards, either straight into the bed or into seed trays for planting out later. A sunny to partly shaded position, free-draining soil and a little patience are enough, and next year a sea of colour is waiting.