IT’S been a strange old summer this year – well, they all are I suppose, but this one was marked by the cold nights we had that seemed to hold a lot of things back. I am taking this in an optimistic way, in that I hope that means that once things have got going, they will flower for longer! Last year, everything came through in a bit of a rush and seemed to be here and gone far too quickly, so fingers crossed.

If you grow plums, then you really should have got your pheromone traps in place by now. These emit an irresistible pong of lady plum moths and the menfolk come looking for a blind date, only to get trapped on the sticky surface – it’s a cruel world out there! If you don’t stop them before they mate, the resulting larvae will tunnel into your fruits making them inedible.

Turning to tomatoes, a reminder that it is very important to remove all the side-shoots on the cordon varieties – these are the ones that need staking and tying in. Use your thumb and forefinger to nip them out otherwise they will grow on at the expense of fruit and you’ll have a mass of leaves. The side-shoots are those that develop between the upright that you have tied to the cane, and the laterals that have developed, so they are more of a 45 degree leaf. You don’t need to water everyday as a matter of course – check out the compost – but be consistent.

On to salvias – we are all familiar with culinary sage which I talked about a few weeks ago. This is a hardy perennial sub-shrub and the plain green one is the easiest to grow. It is not grown for its flowers but many are. Salvia x nemerosa cultivars originate from the woodland edge, as do salvia x sylvestris although all grow happily in full sun. Best cultivars in the nemerosa camp are ‘East Friesland’ (now called ‘Ostfriesland’), ‘Pink Friesland’, ‘Plumosa’, and ‘Amethyst’. For the sylvestris ones try ‘Blue Hill’, (now called ‘Blauhugel’), ‘White Hill’, (now called ‘Schnauhugel’), ‘May Night’, (now called ‘Mainacht’) and ‘Rose Queen’. There is also the lovely violet and white of the meadow sage, salvia pratensis ‘Madeleine’ and there are the dark spires on purple stems of one of my favourites, salvia ‘Caradonna’.

These are all hardy in free-draining but moist soil but there are also many half-hardy or tender salvias with which you may not be so familiar.

I remember the low, rather dumpy ones of my childhood, usually scarlet and combined with white alyssum and blue lobelia in straight lines down the path to the front door. These are salvia splendens types, grown as annuals, and these days in a wider range of colours. You could call them ‘bedding’ salvias.

Look further and you will come across salvia patens ‘Cambridge Blue’, a wonderful tall rather wafty number with large-lipped pale blue flowers. On to salvia ‘Amistad’, a relatively new arrival with deep purple, lipped flowers up the stems; salvia jamensis ‘Hotlips’, white tipped with red, and ‘Raspberry Royal’, a deep pink/cerise; salvia microphylla ‘Trelissick’, a creamy-yellow, ‘Trelawny’, a rose pink and ‘Kew Red’. These flower for ages but being tender, may not get through the winter. You can mulch all around them to give protection or you can lift them, pot them up and put in a cool greenhouse to restart growth in the spring.

If you want to see tender plants like these salvias used at their best, then visit Derry Watkins’ garden, Special Plants near Chippenham.