Antirrhinum Night & Day

Deep velvet crimson spikes, each flower cut through with a sharp white throat, over foliage that is bronze-green rather than plain. It descends from the old heirloom 'Black Prince' and takes that near-black crimson a step further by setting the white lip against it.

It is one of very few annuals that improves as the season ends. When the nights turn cold in September the red deepens towards black and the leaves shift to burgundy, so the contrast sharpens exactly when the rest of the border is going over. If you plant for autumn rather than August, this is a good one to have.

It has a spicy scent, which is unusual in a snapdragon, and the flowers are edible if you want them on a salad or floating in a drink. Bumblebees work it hard. Vase life is on the short side at five to seven days, shorter than the modern doubles, so it is a flower to cut for the week rather than the fortnight. In a border it wants planting in fives or sevens; dark flowers absorb light and a single plant simply vanishes against bare soil.