Many-branched stems bear unusual, straw-yellow, floppy, pendulous flower heads, above basal rosettes of glaucous grey-green leaves. Seed of this rare plant was collected in China. ... Learn More

Possibly the most delicate and beautiful of all thalictrums, this rare but quite hardy plant has aquilegia-like foliage with heads consisting of masses of white, waxy, buttercup-like flowers, with prominent bright yellow stamens. It is found in small local areas on garrique in southern Spain and along the Mediterranean coast. In our gardens visitors sometimes mistake these plants for tall anemones, to which they are quite closely related. Very few good seeds collected. ... Learn More

This completely new and desirable species from the Far East is a unique colour break in thalictrums. It produces a delicate basal spread of incredibly fine maidenhair foliage, above which arise thin, repeatedly branching sprays, carrying showers of countless, tiny, shimmering, tasselated pink and yellow flowers. ... Learn More

A spectacular, upright bloomer with a habit rather like a lupin, sprouting late spring, fragrant, primrose-yellow blooms on stems which emerge almost black in the spring, becoming green later. Although it takes a few years to reach its full beauty, it is very long-lived. Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

This very pretty palm has glossy, dark green, circular fan leaves that have drooping leaf tips. An unusually slender-stemmed palm, the trunks can grow to more than 20 feet high or more, but rarely grow more than five inches inches thick. It is distributed over much of the northern Caribbean and is a reliable and easy-to-grow ornamental for tropical and warm subtropical areas, and a perfect palm for coastal regions. In the wild it grows on the extreme southern mainland coast of Florida, the Florida Keys, Bahamas, western Cuba, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Yucatan Peninsula ... Learn More

Masses of five-petalled flowers in shades of cream, apricot and orange, each with a deep chocolate coloured centre, stand out against mid-green, almost heart-shaped foliage. A delightful annual twining climber, it will make a fine display trailing up a wigwam of canes, or over a trellis or pergola, or you could try it in a hanging basket, allowing the blooming fronds to trail downwards. A perpetual easy-to-grow favourite. ... Learn More

A truly appropriate common name, this rare plant opens glorious, dazzling purple goblet-flowers, which slowly open making a five-bladed windmill! New to cultivation, this slow-growing, dwarf, evergreen shrub will make a stunning plant for a sheltered spot or even a large container indoors. The name Tibouchina is actually adapted from a Guianan indigenous name for a member of this genus. ... Learn More

Masses of goblet shaped, carmine-red flowers open amidst dark green, deeply-carved, soft fuzzy leaves on this very rare shrub, which can eventually become a compact tree. A magnet for butterflies and bees, in the wild it is actually pollinated by hummingbirds, where it thrives high in the cloud forests and paramo of the Andes, in Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador between 2400 and 3800 m. Seldom yet seen in cultivation, it will make an outstanding specimen in cool temperate climates. ... Learn More

Masses of sizeable, sumptuous, beautiful royal-purple blooms open wide, amidst velvet leaves, constantly from March or April. These continue all through autumn and sometimes into early winter, or even all-year-round in warmer climates. Perfect trained as a shrub, or even allowed to grow finally into a small tree, it is one of the world's most spectacular plants. In the wild, Tibouchina lepidota is fairly widespread in montane and cloud forests of the Andes mountains between Venezuela and Peru from 800 to 3200 m, and therefore has a considerable measure of hardiness. ... Learn More

These summer-flowering Iris relatives from Central America have flamboyant showy carmine-pink flowers, which are Iris-like in structure, but with broad petals, held widely open. They come in a range of bright colours often spotted or flecked with a darker tone. The genus name means 'tiger-like', and this refers to the colour and pattern of T. pavonia, which is the species that is usually grown. Hardy and long-lived in a hot spot and can even self-seed when happy. ... Learn More

This famous flamboyant flower gives one of the world's most spectacular displays with brilliant three-petalled, very large orchid-like flowers of red, pink, orange, yellow and white, which appear in early summer, all above insignificant fans of long, thin basal leaves. ... Learn More

The huge scarlet blooms of this outstanding red form of Tigridia pavonia open early in the morning and close when dusk begins to fall; each day seeing a different bloom opened. Plants grown from seeds bloom in the first year and are often grown as a tender summer annual, planted in spring and dug up again in autumn for storing in a dry frost-free place. Coming from dry places in South Africa it needs all the sun available, as this not only encourages flowering, but also ripens the bulb to ensure a similar display the following year. Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

The huge bright yellow blooms of this lovely flower open early in the morning and close when dusk begins to fall, each day seeing a different bloom opened. Plants grown from seeds bloom in the first year and are often grown as a tender summer annual, planted in spring and dug up again in autumn for storing in a dry frost-free place. Coming from dry places in South Africa it needs all the sun available, as this not only encourages flowering, but also ripens the bulb to ensure a similar display the following year. Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

Clusters of charming, sugar-pink, three-petalled flowers appear over a long period on long, fleshy, erect stems, which are clad with quite awesome tongue-shaped leaves. Growing this gorgeous plant from Tropical America as an annual, is a worthy use for those in colder areas. If you have a shady corner to fill up with a lush, exotic-looking plant, this one will grow rapidly into a dense mound, and it will even self-seed as the seeds are frost-proof. This should be on your “I wouldn’t want to be without it” list. ... Learn More

Golden-eyed yellow flowers open amongst attractive, densely-packed, silver-backed, vine-like, foliage. Originally found in Mexico, this unusual plant can be grown as either an annual or a perennial when it will become almost shrub-like. Its main claim to fame though is its astonishing ability to make the soil more fertile, and it is often grown entirely for this purpose. Incredibly, just to recap on your school chemistry, when used as an environmentally and ecologically sound fertilizer, it contains 1.76% Nitrogen, 0.82% Phosphorus, and 3.92% Potassium. By comparison, all three properties are ... Learn More