The most famous of all, the 'King Protea', has large distinctive leaves and huge flower heads which open throughout the year with white, pink and red bracts, depending on the variant. Flower heads persist for a long time, also making excellent cut flowers. Plants should be pruned if leaves suffer frost damage to encourage rapid new growth as soon as possible. Proteas require extremely well drained soil which is both acidic and very low in nutrients, fertiliser containing excess phosphates or nitrates may kill them! Proteas should not be fed with standard liquid feeds. Protea feed is availa ... Learn More

Classed as very rare in the UK, this small, slowly-spreading, semi-evergreen plant has flared, snapdragon-like, tubular flowers which are usually white to cream, but sometimes rarely pink or purple-flushed. It is similar to Prunella vulgaris, but instead the upper stem leaves are cut into narrow lobes. In the wild it also frequents calcareous grassland in Europe, north to Belgium and east to Poland and North Africa. ... Learn More

This extremely attractive tree is adorned with sprays of pastel pink flowers which later become clusters of yellow cherries that turns bright red as they ripen and can be eaten raw or cooked. Also prized for its attractive ringed bark, it is unusual in that it flowers in autumn and winter when little other colour is around. Finally, the fruits and the leaves give a dark green dye, seeds can be used in the manufacture of necklaces, the wood is hard, strong, durable and aromatic, and branches are used as walking sticks. ... Learn More

This species is most popular as a spring flowering bulb, Brian Mathew describing it as "a delightful plant", to be used in rock gardens or under shrubs. It is completely frost-hardy and prefers to be in full sun. ... Learn More

This is the even more lovely pure white form of the species that is most popular as a spring flowering bulb, Brian Mathew describing it as "a delightful plant", to be used in rock gardens or under shrubs. It is completely frost-hardy and prefers to be in full sun. ... Learn More

Rare and delicate, this plant is quite similar to Pseudomuscari azureum, but has a longer raceme of larger mid-blue flowers. In the wild, its few loci are in Northern Iran, where it survives on rock ledges and in light woodland. ... Learn More

An unusual "grape hyacinth" from the cold wastes of Russia with short stems holding massed flowerheads of an unusual and most attractive, pale milky blue which are looser and not as tightly-packed as in many species, resembling tiny hyacinths to which they are of course related. ... Learn More

The Crown Guava is a small shrub/bush found across the northern part of the Amazonian basin from Colombia, Guyana and into Venezuela. It is a cousin of the more common guava fruit (Psidium giajava) but has a taste all of its own. It tend sto have a sharper more acid taste so so is rarely eaten as the raw fruit but more often made into jams and delicious fizzy drinks - often being combined with honey or sugar. It is also grown as an ornamental. ... Learn More

Attractive, frilly flowers mature into guava fruits, which may be round, ovoid or pear-shaped, 2 to 4 inches long, and are commonly used in jams and juices. A series of tests on Indian fruits, including Himalayan apples and pomegranates, bananas from the south, and grapes from Maharashtra, found the guava, (exotic in Europe but a poor man's fruit in India), to be the ultimate super food with the highest concentration of antioxidants which protects against the cell damage that often ages skin. From seed, common guavas may bloom and set fruit in as little as 2 years. They are evergreen, faintly ... Learn More

This attractive tree has a loose crown which is rounded and open, and produces bunches of fragrant yellowish flowers in summer followed by persistent hop-like fruits. An excellent wildlife plant, it also produces copious nectar and pollen for insects. Originating in North America, especially in Ontario to Connecticut and Michigan, it grows also on dry rocky slopes in the mountains of Mexico. ... Learn More

Large fragrant nocturnal white flowers open on stems bearing enormous mature leaves which can reach a length and width of up to thirty five centimetres. Indeed, they can be used as actual dinner plates or as packaging and storage for wrapping materials inside. The leaves are also used as a primitive method of re-enforcing roofs and preventing leaks. The wood is flexible and durable and is often used for box making. Mostly planted as an ornamental or shade tree, the leaves, flowers, and wood thus all serve a large variety of functions. It is home to Southeast Asia, from India to Burma. ... Learn More

This rare miniature pasque-flower has nodding flowers of soft primrose yellow, and after the flowers fade, the beautiful silvery plume-heads develop. Easily grown from seed which is scarce and difficult to collect. ... Learn More

Found in the mountain ranges of central and southern Europe from central Spain to Croatia, this fabulous flower has more upright flowers than other species of Pulsatilla, which generally have drooping flowers. They are yellow (compared with the more usual white). The flowers are produced very early, often opening while still under snow cover. ... Learn More

This beautiful alpine perennial has purple bell-shaped flowers which are covered small delicate hairs, and a bright yellow centre for contrast. The foliage is feathery and coated in silver hairs and is slightly more compact in nature than other pulsatillas. Blooming in the spring to early summer it makes a lovely addition to any rock or alpine garden. Prefers full sun or partial shade in well-drained soil. ... Learn More

A rare and beautiful dwarf pulsatilla, which only produces a few, low, carrot-like tufts of foliage. If size is important this is not the one for you, as the flowers, which can vary from deep blue to white, are quite small, resembling hairy, pendent eggs, and which sometimes do not fully open, and when they do, the narrow petals make a neat star displaying the golden anthers. From remote high places in Asia including Turkey and the tundra of the Tian Shan. ... Learn More