Didiscus Madonna Mixed

The same lacy umbels as 'Blue Lace' in three colours instead of one: powder-blue, soft pink and white, on slender stems at 45 to 60cm above ferny foliage.

For a cutting patch the mix is the more practical buy. You can pull the blues for a cool arrangement, the pinks for a warm one and the whites as a neutral, all off one row, and it makes a softer and more interesting alternative to a bed of ammi. Faintly scented in the evening, like its blue relative.

The same warning applies, and it is the important one. Didiscus is Australian and needs warmth, sun and shelter to do anything worthwhile in Britain. In a cold exposed garden or a poor summer it stays small and flowers thinly. Give it the warmest, most sheltered bed you have. It resents root disturbance, so sow it where it is to grow, or raise it in deep modules and plant out without breaking the rootball. Half-hardy, flowering July to September. If it likes you, it is a flower people will ask about.