Throwing up tall, stately, purple-rayed blooms, rather like an elegant showy form of chicory flower, this superb plant flowers from late spring and for most of the way through the summer. It is cultivated for its ornamental flower, edible roots, and herbal properties and grows wild in many places being one of the most widely known species of the salsify family. As a winter vegetable it is very fashionable among chefs and makes one of the best winter dishes, having an unusual fragrant taste. In addition it can be introduced to flower beds and borders, as well as amongst grass to create a wild flower meadow, where it will happily but very sparingly self-seed. ... Learn More

This extremely rare new plant has strong stems which extend to 5 or 6 feet through the summer and astonishingly only bud up in September! Clouds of bright cobalt-blue flowers, resembling tiny orchids with huge reflexed stamens, then open, in September and October, amidst musty-smelling leaves. This truly amazing, non-invasive, completely hardy new plant adds colour to our garden when almost all other flowers have long-gone! ... Learn More

This beautiful early-flowering Toad Lily has magnificent purple-spotted yellow flowers on tall dividing stems and is excellent in a shady location. It is native to China, typically growing in forests and on forest edges where it blooms from June-September, preferring sandy or loamy well-drained acidic soils, and either full sun or partial shade. ... Learn More

An unusual and uniquely-coloured relative of clover, making solid clumps, above which open golden ball flowers, which open lemon-yellow before slowly turning shiny brown. Silvery palmate leaves add to the attractive appearance of this plant which thrives in poor soil, and indeed produces nitrogen fixing nodules on its roots. It is found on riverbank grasslands , in montane and subalpine areas, at altitudes of 1200-2200 meters in the mountainous regions of Europe, and the SW of Asia (Turkey, Iran). In the Iberian Peninsula it appears in the Pyrenees and around the Picos de Europa. ... Learn More

Predictably, each stem has three leaves, petals and calyces. Leaves, wonderfully marbled and mottled in grey appear in spring above which the three petals appear shortly afterwards, which may vary through mahogany to rich crimson-maroon. Very rarely offered but long lived when established, this is one of the aristocrats of the garden. ... Learn More

Fascinating three-petalled, ivory-white, unusually pendent flowers are held on long flexible stems amongst emerald green, deeply veined foliage. A shade loving plant, native to the mid-west of America, it is a good choice for a woodland garden or a damp shady spot. ... Learn More

Very early in the year, upright-facing flowers of white or pale pink are dotted deeper pink and violet, the spotting concentrated towards the throat which is filled with bright yellow anthers. It starts into growth early in the year making short stems and three silvery-veined, embossed blue-green leaves. Probably the rarest, choicest and dwarfest of all trilliums, this outstanding super miniature, a rare native of Oregon, is tough enough for a select garden spot, or even pot cultivation in the alpine house or frame. Few good seeds collected. ... Learn More

This very fine and extremely rare herbaceous plant, produces exceptional, broad oak-like foliage, which spears through the spring ground like unfurling umbrellas, and tubular white flowers, although the main attraction is the large, conspicuous, round white fruits, which appear in late summer. Commonly known as "Horse gentian" or, less commonly, "Feverwort", it is in a seldom-seen genus of flowering plant which has six species, three species being native to North America with three more in China and Japan. Another one for baffling the experts! ... Learn More

Long, erect, green stems branch near the top into several smaller stems which bear bright purple or lavender flowers which are tubular at first, before opening into six-pointed star shapes. These appear in late spring to early summer, opening gradually in succession to give a colourful display over a number of weeks. It is found in the wild on dry rocky bluffs and open woods, usually in heavy soil in the northern Coast Ranges, and the northern and central Sierra foothills of California, and also into Oregon up to 1,000 meters. ... Learn More

Looking rather like a dwarf agapanthus, this beautiful but quite unusual plant has pure white, funnel-shaped blooms, often tinged purple along the tubular throat, which are produced in dense racemes on strong but thin stems. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Idaho to central California, its habitat including grassland and moist areas such as meadows and vernal pools. It will slowly self-seed when happy making splendid drifts. ... Learn More

In early summer erect stems bear umbels of funnel-shaped, purple-blue flowers. Too rarely seen, this plant is a perfect item for naturalising as its narrow, linear leaves soon die completely away after flowering leaving a clear patch for flower coming later. It spreads perfectly, and without any problems by self-sown seeds making a superb, slowly spreading carpet. ... Learn More

Bright red, or occasionally pink flowers, appear over long narrow rigid leaves on this diminutive gem. Native to the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa, this plant will do best in the best-drained, sunniest part of your garden. If you have no such space, you could try it in a pot of gritty compost for display in your greenhouse or conservatory where it can be better admired. ... Learn More

This gorgeous and completely hardy Australian shrub grows to around 2 feet tall,with bluish-purple drupes clustered at the ends of branches which, predictably, hold thyme-like leaves. Flowers form attractive pink clusters, often appearing at the same time as ripe fruits from the previous season. Flowering period is during summer. T. thymifolia occurs on scattered mountains, mainly in the central part of Tasmania and often on dolerite bouldery ground. ... Learn More

Dazzling orange double flowers are borne on long stems above dense finely cut foliage. This member of the buttercup family likes to stand in part shade and to keep its feet wet, and is a perfect choice for the bog garden or a damp woodland patch, where it will shine out at you from midsummer onward. It can be inclined to seed freely, so if you are lucky you will soon have a superb bed of these gems. ... Learn More

This most attractive plant has dark green, deeply-cut leaves, and bears flowers which resemble egg-yolks both in shape and colour, the name "globe flower" referring to the petals which are curved over the top of the flower. This attractive and easy-to-grow native wild flower of Europe and Western Asia, prefers moist soils in full sun or light shade. ... Learn More