First inspired as a teenager by a bunch of flowers, Margaret Finch is now an inspiration to anyone who aims to have a colourful garden around the year. Of all the seasons Summer has to be the best time to pack the borders with a rainbow of flowers and Margaret came equipped with a colourful display of plants to tempt us. Her talk was full of advice and ideas for creating a herbaceous border with effective planting combinations. We were introduced to some less well known perennials such as eryngium, (good for gravel gardens) sanguisorba (a prairie plant from North America) and veronicastrum plus some old favourites including achillea, alchemilla, campanulas, dahlias, hemerocallis, penstemon and Verbena bonarienseis . Members were so inspired by her talk that there were very few plants left for Margaret to take home at the end of the evening.