If you are searching for an easy, perennial and attractive groundcover plant for a wet or boggy area, this plant is the perfect plant for you! A herbaceous perennial groundcoverer, it has prostrate branches that root at the nodes and sprays of flowers that may be white or varying shades of blue or mauve, and although hard winters can cut it back severely, it invariably re-sprouts each spring. A relatively widespread species, it lives in southern Africa, New Zealand and Australia and has become naturalized in Brazil. It was originally collected by Joseph Banks in New Zealand. ... Learn More

Flowers open like dazzling butterflies, in the brightest red you can get, crowding two foot stems for a very long time in mid-summer. Although it will grow in any good soil, it is a superb plant for boggy or even wet conditions and in the margins of a pond it makes a stupendous sight. ... Learn More

A compact variety renowned for its excellent garden performance with clear sky-blue flowers set above narrow, airy foliage on compact plants. It makes a sparkling addition to beds, containers, and and window-boxes, and looks well placed in the rockery or at the edges of pathways. It is one of the most easily-grown annuals and is deservedly popular for its versatility and long flowering period. ... Learn More

Remarkably similar to the Puya of the Andes in South America or Echium wildpretii from the island of Tenerife, this giant unrelated rosette plant displays the evidence of parallel evolution, producing similar looking plants as they evolve in similar habitats. Although the dark maroon to black flowers are attractive, they are almost completely hidden within the bracts. This rare and astonishing plant is native to wetter spots in the alpine zone of Mount Kenya between 3300 and 4600 m, where the extreme climate is usually clear and cold in the mornings, with intense sunshine, and cloudy or foggy in the afternoons with frost at night. Daytime temperatures are usually only a few degrees above freezing, and in a similar way to many bromeliads, the leaf rosette holds a reservoir of water among the tightly fitted leaves, which is key to its survival in this inhospitable habitat. In cultivation, the giant Lobelias are extremely rare, and will do best outside in temperate, highly oceanic climates such as Ireland, New Zealand, southern Chile or the coastal Northwestern of the U.S. Otherwise they make stunning pot plants if slowly potted on until they flower. Viable seed difficult to collect and very scarce indeed. ... Learn More

One of the most lovely garden flowers and completely hardy, this rarely-seen beauty displays its narrow, flared, fiery red and orange trumpet flowers, much loved by bees, above clumps of fine foliage. At the bud stage, the flowers are tubular and red over most of their length, fading to yellow toward the tips. When they open, the tips curl back in a two-lipped fashion, showing off the yellow interior. Completely vice-less, and rarely setting any good seeds, it will very slowly spread over the years making a solid clump in the garden. ... Learn More

A new and rare Chilean introduction growing many stems which carry delightful and utmostly showy, burgundy-red, wine-coloured flowers in late spring. This semi-woody perennial has upright, branching stems ending in a raceme with intriguing, curved-funnel-shaped flowers above thick, waxy, narrow leaves. It will do well in any rich, very well drained, rocky soil in a sunny spot. ... Learn More

Another giant rosette plant which is stunningly similar to the puyas of the high Andes, and also to the giant echiums that evolved separately, on the Canary Islands, demonstrating convergent/parallel evolution. It forms a large rosette of narrow, hairy leaves that eventually produces a giant inflorescence of creamy white flowers, up to 3 m tall, protected by masses of long, silvery hairy bracts and pollinated by birds. Lobelia telekii is native to the high mountains of tropical eastern Africa and inhabits dry, rocky slopes between an astonishing 3500 and 5000 m elevation on Mount Elgon, the Aberdare Range and Mount Kenya. At 5000 m the daytime temperatures are frequently below freezing. In its native areas, Lobelia telekii takes many years to flower, but in cultivation this is likely to be very much shorter. These seeds were collected at high elevation on Mt. Kenya, near the upper limit of this species where frequent frosts occur. In cultivation, the plants will do best in a large container where they can be protected from excess rain of cold. Also makes a truly memorable house plant baffling everyone who wonders what it is! ... Learn More

An incredible giant, hardy Lobelia from Chile. From a large rosette of thick leathery felted leaves arise thick stems carrying tropical orchid-like deepest carmine flowers. A valuable late season display from July until the autumn frosts. ... Learn More

Rare and unique, this palm-like giant Lobelia forms a large rosette of purplish-green, large, narrow, hairy leaves, and a tall sizeable woody trunk. Eventually a giant flower spike arises protected by masses of long, silvery hairy bracts, and finally countless deep blue flowers open. Similar in stature to a giant Echium, it can grow up to 6 metres in total. Rare even in the wild, where it is pollinated by birds, it lives in the high-elevation bogs of the alpine zone, between 3700 and 4300 m (12100 and 14100 ft) and is native to the high Rwenzori Mountains of tropical Eastern Africa from Uganda to Rwanda which are also known as the "Mountains of the Moon". It is technically hardy, requiring a well drained location, but it can be grown in temperate areas provided the drainage is perfect. It will tolerate frost, snow and heavy rain (all of which occur on the slopes of the volcanic areas where it grows naturally), and it prefers a sunny open location with lots of light. It can also make an unforgettable sight in a large pot in a well drained soil. This rare and desirable plant can only be grown from seed which is extremely difficult to source and collect. ... Learn More