Clematis ‘Viola’ (Hillier Garden Centres, £9): rich, deep-purple flowers contrast with acid-green stamens and a matt paler mauve on the underside of the petals. Though not large, the flowers are beautifully shaped, the tips of each petal curving backwards, like the velvet toe of a Turkish slipper.

Delphinium ‘Black Arrow’ (Rougham Hall Nurseries, £10, sold out until spring): this new variety is a curiosity worth growing for its extraordinary liquorice-black flowers. Time will tell whether its comparatively small size will result in ‘Black Arrow’ being superseded as breeders struggle to combine the same intensity of colour with ever larger blooms.

Dierama ‘Wisley Princess’ (Hillier, available next spring): rising from clumps of grass- like foliage, the slender, gently arching flowering stems drip with small bell-shaped flowers. Composed of dusky- pink papery petals, they dance in the slightest breeze. An elegant, understated form to grow where the soil is free- draining and the sun is strong.

Festuca idahoensis ‘Siskiyou Blue’ (Knoll Gardens, £9): grasses continue to gain in popularity, and the compact shaggy mounds of fescues are a familiar favourite with garden designers — being neat, easy to grow and low maintenance. This variety has relatively long leaves in a luminous, glaucous blue.

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Gaillardia ‘St Clements’ (Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, £6.50): full marks for sheer flower power. These large, cheerful daisy flowers dazzle in fiery shades of warm gold, tinged with orange. Putting on a brilliant show for many weeks, they perform equally well in the vase, where they last and last.

Heuchera ‘Starry Night’ (Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, £5): strong growth and foliage the colour of verdigrised copper are reason enough to grow this new variety. Add the pleasing colour of the flowers — a fresh pale cream, rosy-pink at the base, as opposed to the usual muddy pink — held aloft on thread-fine stems of deepest burgundy.

Jasminum officinale ‘Clotted Cream’ (Hillier, £11): this new colour break heralds a welcome alternative to the common jasmine, whose small starry flowers are brilliant white. With perfume as heady as the original, the warmth of its cream flowers will work where subtlety is required.

Rosa ‘Countess of Wessex’ (Peter Beales Roses, sold out for the coming season): sold out within days of its first showing at Chelsea, this new rose from Peter Beales is a vigorous shrub, smothered in creamy white flowers. If it lives up to its promise, we can expect healthy growth, a fresh lemony fragrance and masses of petal-packed blooms.

Rosa ‘Rosemoor’ (David Austin, £14.50): at the risk of sounding old-fashioned, this rose is best described as “enchanting”. Small rosette- shaped flowers are crammed with petals — warm clear pink in the centre, becoming paler as the flower opens fully and matures. The icing on the cake is its intense perfume — as delicious as a pot of sweet tea with cucumber sandwiches, and powerful enough to knock your socks off.

Tulipa ‘Freeman’ (Bloms, six for £6.90): Bloms Bulbs has introduced a winner with this eye-catching peony- flowered tulip. Multi-petalled heads of warm apricot are enlivened by a deeper tangerine blaze, and green streaks on the outer petals.

Burncoose Nursery, 01209 860 316, www.burncoose.co.uk; Hillier Garden Centres, 01794 368 733 for suppliers, www.hillier.co.uk; Rougham Hall Nurseries, 01359 270 577, www.roughamhallnurseries.co.uk; Knoll Gardens, 01202 873 931, www.knollgardens.co.uk; Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, 01256 896 533, www.hardys-plants.co.uk; Peter Beales Roses, 01953 454 707, www.classicroses.co.uk; David Austin Roses 01902 376 376, www.davidaustinroses.com; Bloms Bulbs, 01234 709 099, www.blomsbulbs.com

Further reading: RHS Plant Finder, RHS Bicentenary Edition 2004-2005 (Dorling Kindersley, £12.99) Rachel de Thame’s early inspiration came from her father, an enthusiastic amateur plantsman. She studied practical horticulture and plantsmanship at the English Gardening School, and is the author of several books on gardening. She is currently a presenter on the BBC’s Gardener’s World and co-hosts the BBC’s coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show. She gardens in London and Oxfordshire. Her column will appear each week in Home

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