California dreaming: On a dreary grey winter’s day, why not plan for some summer colour? 

Long hot days may be a distant dream. But, for keen gardeners, summer work has already begun. We have rooted cuttings to pot up, seeds to sow and above all, plans to develop.

If you want your garden to look enchanting all summer, forward planning is essential. Spring catalogues — both printed and online — brim with new varieties and old favourites.

Orders are being taken and your plugs or young plants will arrive later in spring. But supplies could soon run low, so make your selections as soon as you can.

Many of us grow our own summer plants. My heated greenhouse is crammed with the cuttings I rooted last October. You may think that a great source of freebie plants. But if you factor in heating costs plus labour, buying plugs for delivery could be cheaper and save time.

You can also raise tender summer plants from seed. Those should be sown as directed on the seed packet. Half-hardy varieties will need a heated greenhouse, a propagator or the corner of a conservatory. Slow germinators should be sown now. Rapid annuals such as marigolds, cosmos or mallow can be sown from Mid-March.

MIX IT UP A BIT 

Whether you raise your own summer plants or buy in, planning is important. You’ll need bulk plants for the main bodies of your schemes, plus a selection of accent plants.

In big containers, you might use a standard fuchsia for the accent, with companion plants at its base. Window boxes and tall containers benefit from trailers such as silver-leaf Helichrysum, Plectranthus or nasturtiums tumbling over their sides. It’s easy to be carried away by the catalogues and end up with an unplanned assortment. That could result in a messy hotch-potch. Instead, plant for harmony, placing companionable plants together.

The same goes for colour.

Featuring two or three hues often results in a more beautiful show than a rainbow mix. Cream, primrose and soft pinks blend sweetly with pastel blues.

For a stronger effect, rich purple or sultry maroon contrasts wonderfully with apricot or tangerine. Even more dramatic, the intense blue of cornflowers or Anchusa will team faultlessly with orange marigolds or Mexican torch, Tithonia.

Scarlet with hot orange and bronze is funky and fun. Dare you grow wild red poppies with orange eschscholzias (Californian poppies)? Or shouty orange African marigolds under a whopping, dark-leaved, scarlet-flowered Tropicanna Black? 

SPOILT FOR CHOICE 

If you’ve neither time nor inclination for growing your own, the choice of summer plants offered by suppliers grows richer every year.

Colours that caught my eye this year include some wonderful calibrachoa. Like miniature petunias, these are perfect for large containers or hanging baskets. Their mid-size, trumpet flowers appear in profusion from spring to November.

Dobies (dobies.co.uk) features Calibrachoa Blueberry Scone — ridiculous name but its flowers are a blend of pale primrose and violet blue. I’d grow it on its own, to hang over a hanging basket or container. And Suttons (suttons.co.uk) stocks lovely trailing begonias. Bossa Nova Yellow — with salmon and yellow flowers — has gorgeous bronze leaves.