Fill a container with annual climbers for a statuesque and beautiful centrepiece for your patio display. There's just enough time to sow seeds direct into a roomy pot full of compost – late flowerers like the cup and saucer vine, Cobaea scandens, and lovely deep purple rhodochiton still have plenty of time to race up their canes.
As well as ever-popular sweet peas, look out for black-eyed Susan (Thunbergia alata), morning glory and Spanish flag (Eccremocarpus scaber). All will be smothered in flowers for months, right through summer till the first frosts, giving you some of the best-value plants you can grow.
Choose a container at least 35cm across and preferably larger to give these fast-growing plants enough space. Fill with a 50:50 mix of multi-purpose compost and soil-based compost with a handful of slow-release granular fertiliser mixed in, and provide a tall, firm support: wigwams of sturdy hazel sticks work well, or splash out and buy a metal obelisk. Keep well watered and give a liquid feed weekly once they start flowering, and you'll have a display to light up your garden all summer.
