This tender, half-hardy and fully hardy collection contains 5 packets of seeds, a single packet each of:
Borago officinalis: A hardy annual herb, popular with bees. The young leaves and vivid blue flowers have a fresh cucumber-like flavour, so are often used in salads, soups, chilled drinks or simply as a garnish. Grows to 75cm.
Allium tuberosum: A close relative of ordinary chives, and used in just the same way to flavour cooking, garlic chives have flattened, strappy leaves and a pleasantly garlicky taste particularly when young leaves are harvested. The big healthy clumps come back year after year, and in late summer the starry white flower heads are a real bonus, much loved by bees. The flowers can be eaten too: pick just after they open and sprinkle on salads for a pretty and spicy garnish. Grows to 35cm.
Allium schoenoprasum : A delicious evergreen herb that will come back year after year. The slim, elegant dark green leaves of these chives can be used as a spicy addition to salads, or in soups, stews and curries. The pale mauve pom-pom like flowers, which are also edible and look wonderful when sprinkled over a summer salad, are produced in early summer. Grows to 45cm.
Tropaeolum majus 'Climbing Mixed': A succession of long-spurred, funnel-shaped, yellow, orange and red flowers appear from July to September amid the light green leaves of this easy-to-grow annual climber. These colourful nasturtiums are perfect for covering bare walls in record time, or for scrambling over sunny banks and slopes. Grows to 3m.
Tagetes patula 'Burning Embers': Deep orange-red blooms burn brightly throughout the summer on this well-known bushy annual often grown as a companion plant with tomatoes to restrict the spread of pests such as aphid. The petals of 'Burning Embers' are edible and can be scattered over salads. Grows to 45cm.