It is wonderful to see our enthusiastic gardeners getting more and more adventurous as the years go by. Commercial seed sellers have an obvious role to play in this, by daring to introduce an ever-expanding variety of seeds, and they have tentatively made new seed varieties available on countless occasions over the last 25-30 years.

In the last few years, many curious gardeners have taken up the challenge, bought and grown new seed varieties. Initially being grown only in and around Islamabad, delphiniums and foxgloves are two prime examples that, over the last five years or so, have suddenly become an integral part of the spring-to-early-summer garden landscape theme in Lahore.

Stunning spires of delphiniums in startling shades of blue, are the perfect foil for the equally tall and stately, bell-laden heads of foxgloves/digitalis, in a rainbow of pastel shades ranging from purest white, lemon and peach, through a veritable pallet of pinks to deep rose.

Both of the aforementioned are, in cooler climes than ours, either bi-annuals or perennials but, in Pakistan, are treated as annuals. So the seeds are sown in summer to early autumn for flowering through spring until early summer of the following year.

Tall spires of delphinium, foxglove and verbascum are top summer picks if you are looking for plants with poise and grace

On completion of flowering, these cool climate plants have a tendency to burn to a crisp in the summer heat. So, after any ripe seed has been harvested, these are generally pulled out and disposed of on the compost heap, and the circle from seed sowing to maturity is started off all over again.

In relatively cool, sometimes even bitterly cold, upland areas of our climatically diverse country, both of these species can be treated as the perennials they are but, in the broiling heat of the plains, they are only annuals.

Verbascum, with its extremely attractive flowers, is another species that I have grown in the hills, and shared seedlings with a friend in Lahore. It has excellent results and is a perfect companion for delphiniums and foxgloves. Some varieties of this pretty plant — such as verbascum thapsus, with medicinal uses — are indigenous across the hills and valleys of north Pakistan, especially around Mardan, Peshawar, Abbottabad and Azad Kashmir.

Many verbascum have distinctive, cup-shaped yellow blooms, packed tightly together on either a single or multiple spires of bloom, the yellow being any shade between palest lemon to the brightest gold imaginable. They range in height from about 12 inches to over 6ft tall, the flower spires shooting upwards out of somewhat ground-hugging whirls of leaves, that are either largish and covered with a silvery-white fuzz or smallish, dark green and wrinkly.

Verbascum plants, of which there are approximately 360 varieties to choose from, flourish in full sun or light shade, are perfectly at home in clay soil or sandy loam, and will flourish, happily self-seeding all around, in poor quality soil too as long, that is, as it is well drained. These statement-making plants, once well-rooted, much prefer drought conditions over regular watering, and too much water kills them.

For garden landscaping uses, and for sowing at the same time as delphiniums and foxgloves, verbascum phoenician hybrids top my list of recommendations. Averaging a height of 3-4ft, all verbascums are easy to grow from seed. Just lightly mixed into the soil surface, these beauties bear blooms of apricot, pale pink, white, salmon, violet and even carmine.

The central flower spike blooms first, followed by an array of blooms on side-shoots. Cutting off the central flower spike immediately after it is finished, encourages the plant to send up even more spires of these deceptively fragile-looking flowers.

Verbascum phoenician hybrids take anywhere from 10 days to over a month to germinate, initially emerging as what looks exactly like a tiny, screwed up bunch of crumpled leaves. As verbascums intensely dislike having their roots disturbed, if and when possible, these should be sown where they are to bloom.

If, this is not possible and they are started off in seed trays/pots, it is essential that they are transplanted out into their growing positions as soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle, and before their fragile taproot has developed to any extent.

Spaced out about one foot apart in clumps of 3-6 plants, ensures that you get the very best out of these attractive, cottage garden-type blooms.

If you cannot find a seed source locally, have a browse through online seed sellers in Pakistan and you are sure to find them.

Please continue sending your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Remember to include your location. The writer does not respond directly by email. Emails with attachments will not be opened

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 17th, 2022