Who hasn’t fretted about their garden in scorching heat and days of drought? One plant that seems to thrive and multiply in our light, sandy soil is the field poppy. Rather than confining these joyful arrivals to a wild area, why not let them self-seed among your borders?

Just one word of warning though. Keep an eye on them as they can shade out some of your long-lived favourites and compete for what little moisture there might be. Once over you can yank them out while leaving a few to release the seeds for next year’s show.

Let’s face it, long periods of dry as dust conditions is what we are having to contend with from now on – something to bear in mind when planning our planting.