With evergreen, woolly grey foliage and brilliant bright yellow blooms from late spring through late summer, this is a valuable and very rarely-seen groundcover. Occasionally purple flowers have been seen! Extremely tolerant of drought and heat as well as cold, this dwarf, bone-hardy, slow-spreading, long-lived, alpine gem thrives in dry, hot exposed spots, indeed, it is happy in perfect drainage to the point of living in gravel, even in areas that are too poor to support most plant life. In the wild it lives in ranges west of the Rocky Mountains. Although it assumes star roles in drought-tol ... Learn More

Sprays of flowers looking rather like mini sunflowers open on stems and divided leaves covered with woolly grey hair. This attractive and really excellent garden flower prefers a well-drained bank to do of its best, although as they grow in very wet areas of the north west (Washington State) they can obviously survive wet conditions, but commonly grow in any dry place, especially on rocky slopes and bluffs. It is most common in California, but grows as far north as Vancouver, Canada. ... Learn More

This is the wild form of the gorgeous annual which bears many erect stems, the dazzling blue flowers opening on many-branched stems in summer and until recently it was extremely rare. In the wild it is found from central Asia to Tibet, and Nepal to Afghanistan, in both screes and rock ledges in the drier zones at 2400-4500m. Its flowering power is such that no matter when the seeds are planted - early or late - it will grow and flower quite late into autumn. ... Learn More

This most attractive new compact hybrid produces dense flower spikes of large, brilliant sky-blue flowers. If sown early, it makes a solid dome of dazzling flowers producing an unforgettable display all summer long. ... Learn More

Making small mounds of long leaves above which hover sky-blue, yellow-eyed flowers, this rare and beautiful plant comes from Iberia to the central Ural mountains in Russia, usually on rocky slopes of mountains in steppes, but rarely in forest cover. ... Learn More

Very rarely offered, this gorgeous dwarf erodium, one of the most beautiful of this sizeable family, opens its exceptionally attractive large flowers in a strong cerise colour, all carried in good-sized heads held well clear of the foliage. It has a superficial resemblance to Erodium manescavii but is barely half the size. Unlike many other varieties it perpetually produces new stems for most of the summer, the compact, parsley-like, deeply cut leaves adding value to its flattened clumps. It also makes a perfect large specimen over a long season when planted on its own in a suitable container ... Learn More

A fascinating plant from Sicily. Large violet blue flowers are produced all summer, followed by remarkable, enormous corkscrew seeds which are commercially used for making hygrometers (to measure dampness) - wet one and watch what slowly happens! ... Learn More

Deepest lilac-pink flowers are repeatedly produced for many months over a cascading clump of lovely feathery leaves. This beautiful, long-flowering, very long-lived plant will put on a superb show for year after year where others will not survive. It thrives in all soils and aspects too! ... Learn More

This gorgeous and valuable plant produces violet-veined white flowers above fragrant crinkly leaves over an incredibly long period, from the end of winter until midsummer and spasmodically thereafter. It is much admired in our gardens and is bone hardy, although its exotic appearance does not give this impression. (Syn. or very close to Erodium trifolium). ... Learn More

From Argentina comes what is perhaps the king of eryngiums. This statuesque plant, which has evergreen, toothed, sword-like rich green leaves is in fact very hardy, whilst having a tender, exotic tropical look with massed heads of large grey-green spiky flower heads. ... Learn More

Now rare in the wild, this is the true form of this superb plant, with heart-shaped, glossy dark green basal leaves. Large, cone-like, purplish flower-heads surrounded by vivid blue, spiny bracts, are borne on blue stems. It requires a well-drained, sunny site, in poor to moderate soil, with minimal wetness in winter. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Few seeds collected from cultivated plants. ... Learn More

Usually grown for its outstanding architectural qualities, this herbaceous perennial has spiny, leathery foliage combined with spiky, blue-to-amethyst flowers. The surrounding silvery bracts create real drama in a border, the flowers retaining their colour right into early winter, when the beautiful seed heads also feed wild birds. It is also frequently used for bouquets. This hardy, clump-forming, perennial, long-lived plant pumps out beautiful foliage and flowers year after year, after it emerges from its rosette of spiny, medium green leaves. ... Learn More

Unusually attractive much-divided variegated foliage, holds strong stems carrying masses of bright, metallic, purple-blue flowers. A bone-hardy and fabulous plant. ... Learn More

Numerous greenish-white flowers open in compound stems on stiffly-branching stems. The pale green leaves are sword-shaped, arching and produced in rosettes, the leaf margins being set with many bristle-like teeth. Long-flowering and ideal as a cut flower, it is totally hardy and exceedingly tough growing in dry sun or part shade. ... Learn More

A quite different variation over the very old favourite "Miss Wilmott's Ghost", having a much broader, rather than columnar habit and much larger bracted glorious lime green flowers in early summer. Later, the "flowers" develop a shining silvery hue, appearing a full month after "Miss Wilmott", just barely managing to ripen in the autumn garden. This valuable discovery was brought back from Turkey by plant hunter Martyn Rix, where it was located in beech/pine forest near Trabzon. ... Learn More