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

Compact heads of striped, elongated buds open to produce lovely yellow star-flowers, each one attractively marked with a central brown strip. This pretty flower is native to northern and central California and south western Oregon, where it can be found in coastal and inland coniferous forests and other habitat. ... Learn More

Triteleia laxa (previously Brodiaea laxa), is a dwarf lily known by several common names, including "Ithuriel's spear" and "Grassnut". It produces a tall, naked stem topped with a spray of smaller stalks, each ending in a tubular purple-blue flower, opening into a sharply six-pointed star. This unusual decorative plant, which is native to California and Oregon, grows from a corm which is edible and apparently similar in taste and use as the potato. ... 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

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

A dwarf, compact species forming a small mound of delicate, shiny green leaves, above which open large, glistening, single yellow buttercups over several weeks. These plants are equally happy in sun or partial shade and will often bloom a second time in areas with cool summers. ... Learn More

Very large flowers with petals formed flat like a plate, open in spring above mounds of attractive shiny green foliage. A long-lived plant that is bone hardy in moist soil that does not dry out. ... Learn More

The extremely rare and absolutely fabulous blue climbing nasturtium has thin twining stems which produce solid sheets of dazzling cobalt blue flowers from the leaf axils of delicate, attractively-lobed leaves. One of the most astonishing perennial plants of dry places in Chile, it dies down to deep resting tubers in winter which are best kept dry. It is one of the absolutely ultimate alpine house plants. We have been advised that this seed will possibly not be available after next year. ... Learn More

Bright yellow, green-spurred, chubby flared flowers delicately pencilled crimson inside, and set off with a dark calyx, grow in dense swarms on thin twining stems clad in tiny delicate leaves. This choice, valuable, and extremely rare Andean plant will improve yearly with a slowly increasing tuber in a well-drained situation. ... Learn More

This extremely rare plant is possibly not in cultivation and exists in profusion in just a few secret places in the southern Chilean Andes where these very few seeds have been grown in cultivation. Very perennial and hardy down to at least USA zone 8, it makes a steadily-increasing tuber which yearly produces scrambling stems bearing finely divided blue-green foliage beneath masses of five-petalled yellow flowers. In 1833 William Hooker and George Arnott described Tropaeolum polyphyllum subsp. gracile. This scarce plant, which resembles a dwarf T. polyphyllum both in growth and also smaller se ... Learn More