Summer

Struggling with slugs eating your crops? Here are 17 varieties of veg that they won't touch.

Loved for their showy spheres, alliums have long been stalwarts of late spring, but now new introductions are extending the party through summer. Our summer-flowering allium grow guide explains the best varieties to grow, how to care for them and where to plant.

Equally at home in a cottage garden or urban courtyard, stunning in pots and borders, the globe-like flowers of ornamental onions add a welcome dash of early summer drama. Nurseryman John Hoyland is your guide to how to grow alliums, when to plant them, and recommends his favourite varieties.

As temperatures continue to rise, momentum gathers in the garden and sun-lovers show their hand. From nodding woodlanders to audacious perennials, here are 60 early summer flowers chosen by experts

Four plant combinations to add colour and drama to your summer borders with inspiration from Malverleys head gardener Mat Reese

Despite their reputation for being hard to grow and infuriatingly easy to kill, Eremurus, or foxtail lilies, are spectacular and desirable plants for sunny borders or gravel gardens with well-drained soil

Ever wondered how companion planting might help your vegetables and deter pests? Here expert grower Matthew Biggs breaks down the companion planting myths and explains how the system works

As late spring turns to early summer, Keith Wiley and Andrea Brunsendorf pick the flowers that will look best in June

Three garden designers and landscape architects – Arabella Lennox-Boyd, Ula Maria and Jo Thompson – choose their favourite dahlias for late-season colour.

Horticultural lecturer Louise Danks and rescuer of the National Dahlia Collection explains four key tips to growing dahlias

Dahlias are a must in the summer and autumn garden. Here's everything you need to know about how to grow dahlias, plant tubers and how to take cuttings.

Designer Dan Pearson has long loved the beautiful irises bred by the artist Cedric Morris, and recommends some of the best currently available.

Elders are easy-to-grow shrubs and small trees, best known for the cordial and wine made from their starry flowers and berries, but with newer cultivars now offering excellent ornamental qualities for the garden too

Discover everything you need to know about bearded iris from the late expert grower and owner of Woottens of Wenhaston Michael Loftus

Looking to add more drought tolerant plants to your garden? Annie Godfrey of Daisy Roots nursery recommends some of the best drought tolerant plants.

In the heatwave, make sure you're watering your plants at the right time of day

Flowering from late spring into summer, these varied hardy perennials are growing in popularity. Here's our expert guide to growing them. Words by Naomi Slade.

At Primrose Hall Nursery Alec White specialises in breeding rare and desirable intersectional peonies – plants that can last for 100 years.

Cosmos are as brilliant in the garden as they are in the vase. Plant expert Graham Rice chooses his favourite cosmos varieties to grow, and gives advice on sowing and growing them. Photographs by Jason Ingram

Sowing seeds where you want them to flower is an easy, bother-free way to bring colour to your garden. Here, three experts recommend their favourite flowers for growing direct

These brightly coloured, early spring-flowering alpine plants are perfect for rock and crevice gardens or tumbling down a stone wall.

Garden designer Adam Hunt recommends his favourite bulbs for colour almost all year round.

These hard-working plants provide several seasons of interest in your garden through flowers, fruit, foliage, bark and even spring shoots

Spring is the ideal time to plant summer-flowering bulbs. We asked four experts to recommend their favourites