Lavatera Pink Reflection

Annual mallow does something few annuals manage — it makes a substantial, shrubby plant in a single season. 'Pink Reflection' reaches around seventy centimetres and covers itself in wide satin trumpets of soft pink, each one veined with a deeper shade running out from a pale throat.

The flowers have a silken quality that photographs badly and looks wonderful in person. They come in waves from July onwards and keep going until the frosts stop them.

Grow it lean. On rich ground it puts on height and softness and then flops in the first summer storm. Poor, sharply drained soil gives a shorter, sturdier plant that needs no staking at all.