The bellflower family includes a great number of attractive species including Campanula medium, the well-loved biennial Canterbury bell, and several exquisite alpine plants.

Native to North America, the coreopsis is an accommodating plant, producing cheerful yellow star-shaped flowers throughout the summer even in polluted atmospheres.

The garden relatives of the common Narrow bear yellow or white flowers in flattened clusters. With fern-like, grey-green leaves, they are handsome additions to the summer border.

Native to Europe and Western Asia, this group of herbaceous perennials includes three species which are well suited to summer borders or informal planting schemes.

Verbena peruviana, a native of South America, is a low growing perennial that looks best where its tiny though startlingly bright red flowers can spill over a sunny wall. It does well in a sheltered rock garden or a stone trough in a favoured corner.

The euphorbia family comprises a great many plants including annuals and shrubs. Among the evergreen perennials E. robbiae is particularly attractive, with upright stems, whorls of dark green leaves and loose heads of lime-green flowers and bracts.

There are several species of trollius, the globe flower, in cultivation, all bearing impressive rounded blooms in various shades of yellow with prominent stamens.

Bees and butterflies are irresistibly attracted to the vivid, shaggy flowers of Monarda didyma, a highly decorative relative of mint which is variously known as bee balm or Oswego tea. Native to North America.

Bergenias are among the elite of evergreen ground cover plants, with large, glossy, handsome leaves and nodding clusters of bellshaped flowers. Both foliage and flowers are prized by flower arrangers.

The perennial daisy, Bellis perennis, is a charming if short-lived plant for the front of the border or as attractive ground cover.