Val Bourne on the seeds to create a hive of activity

In 2008 the Trials Field at RHS Wisley literally became a hive of activity because one of the beds contained hardy annuals.

It was mobbed by insects intent on seeking out the nectar or pollen and was the most visited plot by far: you could almost hear it before you saw it. It was highly popular with visitors too, because the bright mix of eschscholzia, clarkia and candytuft harked back to a simpler era when the seed packet, rather than ready-grown plug, was still king.

I love to grow things from seed and annuals are the easiest of all because they have to germinate, flower and set seed in a few weeks short weeks. Annuals rely on luring in pollinators and I love to see bees and butterflies flitting through my garden so I always grow plenty. I’m so impatient that I always sow them far too early under glass. This year’s bright days and cold nights have stunted their growth — particularly in the metal greenhouse. It is far colder than the wooden one and, if you’re thinking of investing, go for wood every time. It’s much warmer.

In any case it’s often far better direct sown into the soil and now’s the perfect time, preferably on damp soil. The 157 varieties sown on the Wisley trial were sprinkled on May 6 and there was enough flower for our committee to judge by the July 8. Annuals flower quickly. However some go on and we were still judging in mid-September, because this trial was deadheaded for the first few weeks. Deadheading keeps the flowers coming.

Many annuals perform early, but cosmos is good for later colour: it thrives on shorter days. Eventually the trial annuals were left to self-seed and that’s the other great thing about annuals, they’re bountiful and you can save the seeds from year to year.

Collect them on fine days at midday and leave them on a saucer or tray to fully dry. Then bag them up and put them in a tin in the shed.

Cornflowers are a personal favourite and the blue Centaurea cyanus, was once a common native ‘weed’ in cereal crops, before the age of herbicides. I grow this because I know it lures in the red-tailed bumble bee (Bombus lapidarius), the very first bee I ever took an interest in. In the 1980s this bee was in decline and I had lots in my Northamptonshire garden. Now it’s regarded as common by The Bumblebee Conservation Trust (bumblebeeconservation.org).

This small blackish bee has a tomato-red bottom and, as you might tell, entomology isn’t one of my skills. It much prefers the blue to the maroon-flowered or white-flowered forms, but then blue is a colour favoured by bees. Bees also adore another cornflower-like hardy annual with larger pale-mauve flowers, Amberboa muricata, known as Sweet Sultan, and championed as a cut flower by Sarah Raven, the airy feathery flowers seem to float in a border.

Amberboa needs a well-drained site and the regulation sun that nearly all annuals prefer. Bees will only forage when nectar flowers and the trigger is warmth. If you want a perennial bee magnet with thistly flowers the stately Stemmacantha centauroides, previously Centaurea 'Pulchra Major’, has huge papery buds that turn into pointed domes before the flowers break. It loves a warm position, as its silvery foliage suggests.

Pincushions are also highly popular and the ‘annual’ scabious are really perennials killed off by our harsh winters. This year mine have come through and there are pinks, whites and blacks. I am growing ‘Beaujolais Bonnets’, ‘Black Knight’ and ‘Summer Fruits’, all available from the Oxfordshire-based Chiltern Seeds via mail order. (www.chilternseeds.co.uk/ 01491 824675)

When it comes to gardening on a budget and achieving results it’s best to buy from a seed specialist like Chiltern Seeds, one of the few independents left. Click on Hardy Annuals, or phone for a catalogue, and you’ll get lots of inspiration.