For really good, height structure and colour early in the year you will find that many people plant the large bulbous Alliums to give interest before their summer herbaceous perennials really get going. However, Alliums are not just for spring. You can also grow the herbaceous Alliums that are rhizomatous rather than bulbous. This is Allium ‘Millennium’ and she will flower through the summer into the autumn. She will naturalise over time and has far daintier foliage that doesn’t sprawl in an ugly brown mess before the flowers appear. Much tidier and sweet looking and the flowers give a pompom accent to the front of the border or in pots, herbaceous Alliums could well be for you.

Another Allium to look out for is a bulbous type Allium spherocephalon, which flowers much later in the season. This has oval shaped heads that start green and slowly change to purple from the top down. It has a tall but fine stem with tiny almost imperceptible leaves and does not need staking which makes it ideal for dotting around in small clumps throughout the sunny flower bed to add movement, height and colour throughout the summer. It also seeds about adding welcome additions each year without becoming a nuisance or crowding other plants out. They look good with grasses and can be left standing in the winter.