Lily of the Valley carpets the ground with lush foliage and snow white, fragrant bells once established. A classic for woodland style planting.

The earliest and bravest of all spring-flowering bulbs, Galanthus nivalis, with its tiny white petals and green-tinged centres, bursts into bloom when the weather is at its worst.

Peonies are a classic cottage garden plant that will last a lifetime in the garden, getting bigger and better with age. Producing exquisite, fragrant blooms, they will make a beautiful feature in borders and are superb for cutting too.

The native Galanthus nivalis snowdrops signal winter’s end with an understated elegance. They love to shelter in dappled shade at the base of trees and shrubs, but are equally at home in an alpine garden or naturalised in grass.

These flamboyant Oriental poppies will light up your borders in late spring and early summer. They thrive in full sun and are happy in poor, dry soil. Clump-forming perennials, they create neat rosettes of deeply-cut leaves covered with coarse hairs, bringing texture to borders before the blooms appear.