You can get lobelia in red as well as blue

Well I would go for begonias as I am such a fan of them and they so superbly perform. But you will need to wait for quite a while yet, and until all danger of frosts gone. Winter isn't over yet. You could try to create a 'jubillee' display using red, white and blue spring violas.

How about Red Salvia? The flowers will give a different texture to the display of Lobelia and Alyssum. I've just read that 'Tom Thumb' is a dwarf variety which grows to 6 inches in height.

Verbena ?

there are aslo some rich red snapdragons too. the lobelia tends to be more of a pinky red rather than a pill box red. The annual salvia is a lovely red but very frost tender and a delicacy for slugs.

I would go with Andy's suggestion. 'Aztec Red' hybrid, or pureblood V. peruviana should be perfect. The "red" lobelias tend to actually be more in the magenta-fuchsia range.

I would go for fibrous rooted begonias that will flower all summer whatever the weather. The ones with dark red leaves would make a great contrast with the other colours.

You could also get a perrenial ground cover lilly dazzler, which is great to form lines, borders and edges. Flowers within ten weeks of planting - ten flowers per bulb. Bought last year from Thompson and Morgan, and they lived up to expectation! They were called ground cover carpet lillies - various colours in red, pink and white, though this may now have changed. Otherwise, the red pelargoniums, or begonias, previously suggested are a lovely idea. I also remember that there is now a dark leaved pelargonium available.

How long do those lilies flower Avkg? Wouldn't pelargoniums be too tall for a display with lobelia?

The pelargoniums will only grow to about 12 inch high, your lobelia will be about 5 inch high. I grow these in my front garden and I think they go well together.

They certainly do beautifully in a border. I was imagining a sort of tapestry bed as Simon said he wanted low growing ones - thought he was looking for plants the same height as the lobelia. Anyway, lots of good choices here.

Hello! The ground carpet lillies are about 6-8 inches above base and flower june to october. Warmer areas may have flowers a few weeks earlier or later depending on where you are in the UK ... they will do better in the south.

Sound beautiful. What name would they be under in the catalogues, as I don't remember seeing any. Gimmee gimmee gimee!

Hi ... ground cover colour carpet lilies: ... variations are dazzler, sparkler and glimmer (red, pink, white) from Thompson & Morgan, page 61 in Spring Catalogue or view on-line on their web site.

Thank you. Bit nervous about T&M after all the recent comments on here.

T&M and Suttons I have never had a problem with - always good quality with good results on plugs and seeds. Fothergills always (and I periodically try a packet) undersell on the seed numbers. I may be the only person in england who counts the seeds (excepting lettuce, carrot etc, which are way too small!!) in a packet of flowering seeds, but when I need 50 delphinium but only get 35 I am somewhat miffed. This is the last time I buy fothergills - they have had two chances and I will not recommend them or use them again.

Sadly I think I am spent up now - made the mistake of looking at Long Acre Plants website this afternoon. Good plants, nicely packaged, so feel I can justify the extravagance! Will look out for the lilies later.