THE seed heads of flowering plants are so varied in their design and scale.

For gardeners at this time of year they are one of the few recognisable characteristics that can help when trying to identify the crumpled brown leaves of last season’s growth.

Pick up any gardening magazine now and I can guarantee that within the first few pages you’ll come across frost-encrusted images of seed heads, berries and ornamental grasses.

Once you tune into the plants that are regularly featured you begin to come across key plants that are the default choice for many gardeners and designers.

With our wet winters the best seed heads are the most robust ones capable of weathering the worst and best of a Cumbrian winter.

One always on my planting list are the Echinacea.

It’s true to say that many of the cultivars are less than robust, often overly bred. Many have to be treated like annuals with the assumption that they won’t make it through the winter but, in their defence, the simple unadulterated species Echinacea purpurea is a good one as is the even more convincing white form E. purpurea ‘Alba’.

They have beautiful seed heads that over the winter fall apart to reveal the hard-wearing, pin-like structure that held the flower together from the start.

The umbelliferous flower heads that you might find on annual plants such as Ami majus look terrific, provided the seed head remains intact long enough into the winter.

I love the downy seed heads you find on Eupatorium, statuesque during late summer with an impressive regalia of purple flowers that keep their form well into December. Among the Eupatorium there are varieties that only get to 100cm or so and the taller options that can reach almost double that.

The distinctive and highly ornamental globe thistle (Echinops) produces spikey round heads. These work so well when dotted through a reasonably-sized area where they can ‘drift’ through the other plants.

Not forgetting the Hydrangeas - these hardy shrubs are among the most prolific in the seed head department and rightly so are championed by florists and gardeners alike for their beautiful shades of colour. The paniculata types, such as ‘Limelight’ or ‘Pinky Winky’, aren’t covered in nearly so many seed heads as the macrophylla (mop-heads) but either option will grace you with an increasingly impressive display as the plants mature.

The ornamental grasses are a mixed bag in the winter. Some disintegrate into a crumpled heap, whereas others will stand convincingly upright and hold their plume like seed heads aloft. The Miscanthus are the best grasses in this department with many hardy and varied cultivars.