Exquisite kingfisher-blue flowers, more commonly with rounded points on the trumpet, face upwards on completely compact mats of foliage. Vaguely resembling Gentiana acaulis, this is one of the scarcest species in cultivation and quite a challenge to flower to perfection. ... Learn More

A tough and hardy, back-of-rockery gentian, which puts up arching stems of purplish blue flowers from midsummer onward. It will tolerate some shade, but best given its own space with adequate light in good soil. ... Learn More

Crawling, dark-leaved, rock clinging stems sprout deep blue trumpets unaffected by heat or drought here where it steals the show on our rock garden every summer, before dying down each autumn. ... Learn More

Strong, noble spires of large, golden, star-like flowers open in late spring over clumps of large basal lily-like leaves. A superb gentian and one of the most magnificent, easy-to-grow, and long lived plants you can ever wish to grow. ... Learn More

This semi-evergreen gentian has clusters of electric-blue flowers atop its upright stems, clad in dark-green, ovate leaves in late summer and early autumn. It prefers partial shade, although it will grow in full sun provided the soil remains moist, and is even good in containers or for adding late colour to a border. ... Learn More

This is the albino version of this semi-evergreen gentian with clusters of pure white flowers, striped darker outside, atop its upright stems, clad in dark-green ovate leaves in late summer and early autumn. It prefers partial shade, although it will grow in full sun provided the soil remains moist, and is even good in containers or for adding late colour to a border. It is native to North America from Manitoba through Ontario in the north and south to Oklahoma, Arkansas and North Carolina. It is listed as rare, endangered, threatened or even extinct in parts of this range. ... Learn More

Clusters of pale blue to dark mauve, tubular, funnel-shaped flowers are borne from early summer until autumn on this showy much-branched plant. In the wild it grows up to nearly 5,000m in the Himalayas. ... Learn More

This rare and magnificent plant, which displays freely-borne dark blue flowers, is an endemic of the high Pyrenean mountains. It is usually found at altitude, often at over 7,000 feet, and invariably growing on alpine pastures in association with other plants, where it can be distinguished from its cousin, Gentiana acaulis, by its tighter habit and smaller leaves. ... Learn More

From the the Caucasus comes this gem with small grass-like leaves and the largest flowers we have seen on any gentian. The huge upturned, pointed, white-throated blue trumpets elicit more garden comments than any other gentian, all summer and autumn. ... Learn More

A lovely and increasingly-rare plant which grows up to 25cm high and does not grow in marshes as its common name might suggest but on fairly wet heaths, where it exhibits a clear sky-blue colour with white and grey or green streaks on the outside of the petals, and grey spots on the inside. Leaves are narrow linear. It is to be found very locally in places such as Dorset to East Sussex through to North East Yorks and Westmorland but is decreasing and makes a lovely garden plant if you can make it happy! ... Learn More

Common in the Alps, but very rare in gardens, is this lovely, very long-lived relative of Gentiana lutea. Clusters of reddish-purple tubular flowers are held on strong stems which arise from great tufts of thick, aspidistra-like leaves. ... Learn More

This perpetual favourite grows as a low dome of leafy stems bearing terminal clusters of bell-shaped purple-blue flowers and is probably the easiest of the attractive gentians. ... Learn More

Very rarely seen is this beautiful pure white form of the splendid Gentiana septemfida. The blue form is easy-to-grow and a good beginners plant, and so is this, and it will make an attractive and unusual bright splash on your rock garden as it is long-lived and very hardy indeed. Unfortunately it produces very few good fertile seeds. ... Learn More

Dense terminal clusters of snow white, delicately-marked flowers open, very late in the season, on arching stems with fleshy, broadly lanceolate leaves. This completely hardy native of sub-alpine meadows in Western China is easily cultivated in any rich, well drained soil in a sunny spot and is excellent in the rock garden. ... Learn More

This spectacular little gem carrying thin stems with small oval leathery leaves and terminating in large bunches of sizeable five pointed, hairy, white-throated dazzling azure blue trumpets. A striking plant on the borders of a pathway here. ... Learn More