We spent some time in the borders this week at Genus HQ removing old wallflower plants along with the spent stems of tulips that gave us such a good show this year. With the space vacated we were now able to plant out our annuals. This is something we’ve been wanting to do for several weeks but they haven't been large enough to stick up for themselves in the rough and tumble of the grown-up borders.
With the recent warm weather and a little diluted feed they finally made it to a size that we felt could cope with attention from the odd slug or overbearing perennial neighbour. Out from the cold-frames went the Cosmos ‘Sonata White’ and the primrose yellow ‘Xanthos’ - an interesting looking variety we haven’t tried before. The stunning Mexican sunflowers Tithonia ‘Torch’ and ‘Goldfinger’ which performed so well for us last year were also planted out ( pictured), along with two eye-catching sunflowers, ‘Solar Power’ with its contrasting yellow and orange rings and ‘Black Magic’ - at around 4 feet tall and multi it’s as near to black as is possible, handsomely displaying subtle tints of dark maroon when backlit by a low setting sun.