Echium italicum
Icing-pink flowers appear on this statuesque beauty’s fuzzy stem from June to October

Alpine strawberry Baron Solemacher
This European favourite will produce small, intensely sweet berries for a lengthy season

Meraviglia di Venezia
A meaty, stringless French Bean that can grow up to three yards high with support

Primula secundiflora
The magenta bells of this diminutive woodland dweller have helped to establish it as a favourite

Seakale
The stalks of this Victorian delicacy can be eaten raw, or steamed and served with butter

Tropaeolum majus Empress of India
A gloriously old-fashioned form of the garden nasturtium, with velvety, open-throated flowers

Where to buy

Chiltern 01229 581137; www.chilternseeds.co.uk

Franchi 020-8427 5020; www.seedsofitaly.com

Marshalls 01480 443390; www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk

Pictorial Meadows 0114-267 7635; www.pictorialmeadows.co.uk

Ray Brown 0870 850 3756; www.raybrowns.co.uk

Thomas Etty 01460 298249; www.thomasetty.co.uk