Although it also makes a most attractive flowering vine, this plant, native to India and other south eastern Asian countries, is usually cultivated for its fruits which are dried, and usually powdered, and used as a spice and seasoning. When fully mature they dry dark red and are known as peppercorns and have been used since antiquity for both flavour and as a medicine. The spiciness of black pepper is due to the chemical piperine, which is not the same as the capsaicins in fleshy peppers. Black pepper, white pepper, green pepper, pink pepper, and red pepper are all differently-preserved berri ... Learn More

In March, short spikes of furry flower buds open to reveal large, bright-yellow, showy flowers, rather like laburnum but in short upright clusters, and which smell of vanilla and last until June. The yellow-green, flat, pendulous seed pods are about four inches long and are evident in August and September. The youngest stems are dark green, almost black, in spring, and the leaves are a shiny dark green on the upper side, blue-green underneath. This lovely shrub grows quickly once the seed has germinated ... Learn More

The Manila Tamarind, or Madras Thorn, is a rugged yet graceful tree native to Central and South America, now naturalized across tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. Its spreading, umbrella-shaped canopy is supported by a trunk adorned with rough, grayish bark. The small, bipinnate leaves lend a soft, feathery texture to the tree, which is often complemented by clusters of greenish-white, fragrant flowers during the blooming season. These blossoms are a magnet for pollinators, including bees and butterflies. The tree’s standout feature, however, is its twisted, spiraling pods, which e ... Learn More

A deep purple form of the "Giant Plantain" coming completely true from seed with large shiny purple leaves producing a most impressive rosette from which arise long ,thin, thrusting-upwards, poker-like seed heads. This is a superb, showy, hardy perennial plant where foliage and form are required. ... Learn More

This quaint and beautiful oddity has been with us since medieval times. In place of the normally insignificant flowers, are neat posies of bracts constructed just like expanding emerald green rose flowers. Another 'expert baffler' and it makes a long-lived cut flower too! ... Learn More

These popular relatives to the bell-flowers form a mound of green foliage, bearing inflated buds that open into large star-shaped blue blossoms that almost resemble sky-blue eggs. These are so unique that countless children have found themselves in serious trouble for 'popping' them before the flower opens! (They make quite a pop!) ... Learn More

These summer-blooming cousins to the more familiar Bellflowers form compact mound of green foliage, bearing inflated buds that 'pop' open into star-shaped, single, pink blossoms. Although the flowers are quite long-lived, you can remove faded blooms to encourage fresh buds to form. They appear quite late in the spring, so it is good advice to consider planting tulips or daffodils beside the clump to mark the location. ... Learn More

Platycodon grandiflorus 'Hakone Blue', commonly known as Hakone Blue Balloon Flower, is a compact perennial celebrated for its striking, balloon-shaped buds that burst open into starry, violet-blue blooms. This variety is known for its uniform growth habit and rich flower color, making it ideal for garden borders, rock gardens, or container planting. Its dark green, lance-shaped foliage provides a beautiful backdrop to the vibrant flowers, creating an eye-catching display throughout the growing season. Thriving in full sun to partial shade and well-drained soils, Hakone Blue is a low-mainte ... Learn More

One of the most beautiful, frost-hardy terrestrial and xerophytic (grows on tree branches ) orchids in the world. Very large pink and mauve, or sometimes pure white flowers, arise from plump pseudobulbs in earliest spring, the lanceolate leaves appearing later. Fresh seed collected here each year. ... Learn More

This very choice plant has marbled bronze, trillium-like leaves, which erupt through the ground like folded umbrellas. Crystalline white flower cups produce enormous brilliant-red fruits, as large as a bantam's egg. In good moist soil this treasure is spectacular and very long-lived but too rarely seen! ... Learn More

This is the rare, sugar-pink coloured form of this very choice plant which has crystalline cup-flowers opening over marbled bronze, rubbery, trillium-like leaves, which erupt through the ground like folded umbrellas. Later are produced the enormous brilliant-red fruits, as large as a bantam's egg. In good moist soil this treasure is spectacular and very long-lived but too rarely seen! ... Learn More

A gorgeous vine or shrub that is decorated with trusses of very large, pinkish-purple, trumpet-shaped flowers, which are carried in big trusses all year round in warmer countries and the tropics, and from late summer to autumn in colder regions. It can give a spectacular late season display if it can be grown in a cold greenhouse or conservatory, when it can be hard pruned after flowering. It came originally from Southern Africa and is now widely grown on the Balearic and Canary islands. ... Learn More

Attractive clusters of sizeable violet-blue flowers, each with a distinct golden yellow eye, smother the wooly, grey, compact-bushy foliage, their dwarf habit making them ideal in the front of borders, or even containers. This very rare plant is native to the high arctic, and in Greenland it is found only in a small area on the east coast. The whole plant is pubescent, with long woolly hairs. In the wild this gem grows on gravelly slopes and in crevices. It will do best on a sharply-drained bed or even in a pot in the alpine house. Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

An exceptionally vigorous "Jacob's Ladder", flaunting bunches of primrose coloured, and sometimes darker peach-coloured trumpet flowers on strong stems of finely-divided foliage. One of the most attractive and unusual flowers in this group! ... Learn More

The ever-popular and easily-grown "Jacobs Ladder" pushes up several stems clad in pinnate leaves topped by panicles of sky blue flowers. ... Learn More