Primula and ranunculus window box

Create a jumble of flowers for a hanging basket full of cottage-garden charm. It’s also a way of making a big impact and injecting colour into a space. Petunias, geraniums, verbena and diascia all add to this informal scheme. When planting a hanging basket, choose a colour theme and stick to it – here a strict mix of pink and purple create a traditional look with a modern twist. Cram as many plants as possible into your basket – that will give you the best possible chance of creating an explos

In this stylish pot, a purple osteospermum and hebe combine with a green fern for a classy, long-lasting display. The striking, colourful foliage of the hebe complements the flowers. Choose plants that vary in height to make a display with interest at all levels – ferns are ideal for the ‘backbone’ of a pot. The fern that we’ve used, Dryopteris affinis, is semi-evergreen, and the hebe is evergreen, which means you could switch the osteospermum for a winter bedding plant when summer ends.

Box is an incredibly versatile plant that is perfect for trimming into topiary shapes, including balls, spirals and much more. The best time to trim box topiary is late spring. This will encourage the development of side shoots. These new shoots can then be cut in midsummer to create a well-defined surface in whatever shape you wish. This will again cause sideshoots to grow – the plants can be given a final shaping and tidy up if necessary in early autumn. Always use sharp tools to shape top

Roses and clematis make the perfect planting partners, so why not bring the two together in a large pot display? Here we’ve combined ground cover rose ‘Suffolk’ with maroon-flowered clematis ‘Burma Star’ and a few trailing ivies to complete the look. All plants thrive with the minimum of fuss and will happily romp away, given adequate compost, food and water. Simply deadhead regularly and tie stems into place, and you’ll have an annual display that gets better every year.