Summer flowering bulbs are beginning to make their appearance, and I hope we have some with which to tempt you.

If you agonise over what to grow with what, we have some new selections in the shape of collections to ease your pain.

Bees and butterflies looks a good one, containing liatris spicata, dahlia happy butterfly, short gladiolus Guernsey glory and anemone sylphide.

There are also colour-themed ones such as sangria with dahlia Mary Evelyn, cosmos astrosanguineus (chocolate cosmos) and oxalis triangularis and strawberry daiquiri with dahlia pretty woman, begonia blushing star and habranthus robusta.

These have been put together to grow in containers.

Then there are the individual dahlias and we have chosen some stunning ones in all shapes and sizes: fully double, pom-pom, semi-doubles and singles including the bishops, and ranging from stonking big ones down to the more sedate shorter patio range.

I am particularly looking forward to seeing a completely new introduction called Moulin Rouge, which has scarlet base petals and white upper ones.

I also like the cactus ones that look like they are in the middle of exploding.

Along with these come lilies, including the pollen-free ones such as broken heart and double sensation, along with the gloriously scented and ever-popular Mona Lisa and Casa Blanca.

If you want to try lilies in a border rather than a pot, look no further than the beautifully swept-back spotted flowers of flore pleno and speciosum rubrum.

Gladioli are making a comeback, which is brilliant as far as I’m concerned.

They make a superb cut flower and range from the burnt orange of Africa, cerise pink with a white throat in jo-jo to the deep, velvety purple of black star.

They are not all tall and the shorter ones, usually with the word “nanus” in their names – meaning small – are brilliant in pots or in the border. Other fabulous things arriving will be the so-called cottage garden plants. Here you will find delights such as iris germanica (bearded iris), crocosmia, ranunculus, polianthes (tuberose), anemone de caen, nerine, paeonia, astrantia, papaver orientale, ixia, agapanthus, alstroemeria and zantedeschia (calla lily).

On the soft fruit front we will be having packs of canes of raspberry, blackcurrant, redcurrant and gooseberry, along with asparagus and rhubarb collections.

Onion sets and garlic packs will also be in for spring planting, along with something new – vegetable growing kits in wooden trays with onions, garlic, shallots and five-seed potatoes for first earlies, second earlies and maincrops.

The loose cyclamen hederifolium corms that we had last year were so brilliant that we’ve gone for them again. They are huge and fabulous value. Along with these we will have loose bulbs of crinum powellii (Indian elephant flower).

We are also having packs of patio plants, namely oleander and thunbergia (black-eyed Susan) to grow on.