Imagine your garden next summer: borders bursting with colour, pots and beds full of blooms you've grown from seed. Sounds a long way off, doesn't it? But you can get started now.
According to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), midsummer is the ideal time to sow many spring-flowering biennials. Sown now, they'll establish before winter and reward you with colour when the weather warms up again. Timing varies slightly by variety, so always check the seed packet before sowing.
Here are five colourful flowers to sow now for next year's display.
1. Wallflowers (Erysimum cheiri)
Few flowers signal spring quite like wallflowers. These short-lived perennials, usually grown as biennials, produce clusters of sweetly scented blooms in shades of yellow, orange, red, purple, cream and deep burgundy.
Their upright habit and narrow evergreen leaves make them useful for bringing early colour to borders and containers.
How to plant: Sow seeds by early to midsummer, following the packet's guidance. "July is the ideal time to sow wallflowers because it gives the plants enough time to grow roots and establish themselves properly before winter," says Angelika Zaber, Lawn Care Specialist and Gardening Expert at Online Turf.
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Start them in pots or a prepared seedbed before transplanting into a sunny spot with free-draining soil in late summer or autumn.
When will it flower: Plants spend summer and autumn establishing before bursting into weeks of colourful, sweetly scented blooms.
2. Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus)
Sweet Caroline may get the singalong, but Sweet Williams put on the better show. These short-lived perennials are typically grown as biennials, producing dense, flattened flowerheads in white, pink, red, crimson, purple and salmon, often in striking bicoloured combinations. Toothed petals and contrasting centres add intricate detail to every bloom.
How to plant: Sow directly into finely raked soil in July, making shallow drills around 5mm deep and spacing rows about 30cm apart. Before sowing, remove any weeds to "reduce any competition from unwanted plants," advises Angelika. Grow Sweet Williams in a sunny spot with well-drained soil for the best display, although they'll also tolerate light shade.
When will it flower: Plants spend late summer and autumn developing strong roots and leafy growth before flowering the following summer. While they're actively growing, water regularly without waterlogging the soil, as they're "prone to fungal diseases, such as rust and crown rot," says Angelika.
3. Forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica)
Best known for their clouds of clear blue flowers, forget-me-nots also come in softer shades of pink and white. Treated as biennials, they create soft, low mounds studded with tiny, five-petalled flowers, each with a bright yellow or white centre.
True to their name, they're remarkably hard to forget, seeding themselves freely and popping up year after year. As Angelika points out, they "look amazing on their own or when paired with other spring flowers, including wallflowers."
How to plant: Sow by July in trays, pots or a prepared outdoor seedbed. Once seedlings are large enough to handle, transplant them into moderately fertile, moist soil that drains well in full sun or partial shade.
When will it flower: Plants establish through autumn, then produce delicate blue, pink or white flowers from spring into early summer.
4. Bellis daisies (Bellis perennis)
Small but hard to overlook, Bellis daisies bring neat bursts of colour to pots, paths and the front of borders. These evergreen perennials are often used as short-lived bedding plants and flower in white, pink and red, usually with yellow or contrasting centres.
Cultivated varieties form compact rosettes of spoon-shaped leaves topped with button-like or pompom-shaped blooms.
According to Lucie Bradley from Easy Garden Irrigation, "it's both more cost-effective and eco-friendly to spend time in July sowing these as seeds so that they grow as biennials and produce sturdy plants with robust root systems that can overwinter."
How to plant: For spring flowers, sow by July using trays, pots or a finely prepared outdoor seedbed. "With the temperatures currently so hot and conditions so dry, you're best to sow them into trays," Lucie says.
She also notes that "their small seeds need light to germinate," so press them gently onto the surface of a fine seed compost rather than covering them over. Thin or prick out young plants once they've developed a few true leaves before planting them in a sunny or partially shaded position.
When will it flower: Expect cheerful pompom blooms throughout spring after plants establish over late summer and autumn.
5. Pansies (Viola × wittrockiana hybrids)
"July is the ideal month to sow pansy seeds if you want strong plants that will flower abundantly from spring into early summer," says Lucie Bradley.
One of the UK's most widely grown bedding plants, pansies are a reliable way to bring colour to containers and border edges. Usually treated as annuals or biennials, they come in purple, blue, yellow, orange, red and white, as well as veined, blotched and bicoloured forms. Many have dark central markings that give the flowers their familiar face-like appearance.
How to plant: "With the current high temperatures and dry weather, you're better off sowing pansy seeds in modular trays than directly into the ground," says Lucie.
Sow the seeds in modular trays using a fine seed compost, following the packet instructions. Cover them with a light layer of vermiculite rather than compost to improve germination and reduce the risk of damping off. Keep the compost moist but not waterlogged by watering from below where possible.
Pansies germinate best at 15 to 18°C. Once the seedlings are large enough to handle, plant them into fertile, moist but free-draining soil in full sun or partial shade.
When will it flower: Depending on the variety and growing conditions, summer-sown plants can begin flowering in late autumn or winter, with the main display usually peaking in spring.
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