Roscoea Auriculata

In late summer, from the centre of a stout growth of heavily corrugated dark green leaves, arise spikes of large, brilliant purple, orchid-like flowers with a white throat and slightly paler hood. These completely hardy, herbaceous relatives of the tropical gingers grow in the wild at great altitude in the eastern Himalayas, in Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal and Sikkim. RHS Trials gave them an AGM, and noted that they were "Good value plants that are vigorous and produce plenty of flowers over a long period."