“Color makes people feel alive,” says leading British garden designer James Alexander-Sinclair. For clients, he treads a fine line, creating gardens that are elegant, without being spare His own garden in Oxfordshire reveals a light touch and an absence of inhibition: “A garden should be happy and not overthought, and slightly instinctive.”

A rose for the zeitgeist, R. x odorata ‘Mutabilis’ doesn’t have the scent promised by its name but it does flower all season.

 Thalictrum ‘Black Stockings’ has more pizzazz than, say, Thalictrum ‘Elin’ because of its dark stems.

A hybrid between California and Chinese sweetshrub, Calycanthus ‘Aphrodite’ thrives in USDA zones 5-9.

A useful magnolia to bear in mind as it flowers late and is more likely to survive untimely frosts: Magnolia x wieseneri.

Jagged leaves of a young tetrapanax, on its way to becoming huge, is a winning foil to the foliage and petal shapes of a naturally mutated opium poppy.

Deep purple and deep pink are brought together by a pale umbellifer.

A giant rusted Corten steel ball has been rolled into place to cover a dry area underneath a shallow-rooting birch.