Aubrieta's the best of the bunch; Gardening.

AUBRIETAS are among the easiest rock plants to grow from seed and provide heaps of colour, cascading over old stone walls or rocks in blues, purples and pinks.

The hybrids produce low-growing showy mats of pretty flowers in spring and grow best in well-drained soil in full sun. Good varieties include Bressingham Pink and Greencourt Purple, a rich purple.

Choose a planting site carefully as it's quite a vigorous growing plant that can swamp slower growing species.

Salsify - the vegetable oyster or Tragopogon porrifolius - looks good enough to eat... literally.

The roots of this delicately flavoured hardy biennial, native to the Mediterranean region, are said to taste like oysters. Salsify looks a bit like thin parsnips, with long, tapering roots, can be cooked like asparagus and makes a good accompaniment to fish.

Seeds should be sown about 30cm (12in) apart in a sunny spot in spring in stone-free ground so that the tap root can push through with ease. It prefers fine, sandy soil not recently enriched as this can make the roots fork.

The roots should be ready from October and can be lifted and stored in a cool place. In mild areas it can be left in the ground until needed. If it is left unharvested until the next spring, it will produce purple daisy flowers.

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COLOURFUL... Aubrietas are among the easiest rock plants to grow from seed.