From North Eastern India comes this elegant non-spreading clump which produces jagged-edged flared violet bells in loose sprays on numerous arching stems. It is additionally valuable on account of its hardiness and inability to be invasive. ... Learn More

An elegant plant making spires of white-eyed blue flowers in early and mid summer. In very good, loose soil this plant can spread, so may be best planted where it can be controlled. ... Learn More

A rare, bone hardy campanula relative, with showy spikes of blue, bulging, pixie-hat bells about an inch long, rising above clumps of toothed leaves which also clad the stems. Its home is eastern Asia, and in particular north and central Japan. ... Learn More

Finely dissected, almost fern-like, bright green leaves surround the superb cup-shaped deep scarlet flowers with black centres in early summer. This lovely plant, once fond in ancient cornfields, is now quite rare in the wild. This medicinal and ornamental plant is native to North Africa, Western Asia, the Mediterranean, and Europe, and will gently spread around your garden if you are lucky. ... Learn More

This rarely-seen succulent plant has numerous starry heads of bright yellow flowers which open on hairy stems above congested rosettes of pointed, hairy rosettes. This one of the prettiest and most amenable aeoniums you can grow in a pot as it does not expand on long woody stems like so many of the others in this genus. In the wild it grows on rocks and cliffs in the Tirajana Valley on the Island of Gran Canaria. ... Learn More

This low-spreading, bushy perennial with racemes of pink to lilac coloured flowers, forms compact, mounding, evergreen shrubs in rock gardens or as front edging along borders. It comes originally from the cool limestone highlands of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor where it thrives in a loose, well-drained, neutral-to-alkaline soil. In the garden, where this lovely plant will spread easily by self-seeding, it can be pruned lightly to maintain shape. Distinction: Award of Garden Merit (A.G.M.) from The Royal Horticultural Society. ... Learn More

The flowers of Burnt candytuft, a dwarf rock plant, are variable in colour and can be white, pink or mauve. For us living in the UK larger and more common members of this family are associated with neat, edged flowerbeds in gardens and parks in the height of summer. This rare plant grows in rocky habitats in the hills and mountains, where it blooms in the spring. Burnt candytuft is found in the western and central Mediterranean from Spain to Greece and also in Sardinia, Sicily and Crete. ... Learn More

Spays of fragrant, pale rose coloured flowers open in earliest spring on this lovely alpine plant which is ideal for a trough or alpine rock garden. In the wild, in Western Turkey where it is found up to 2000m altitude, it loves rocky, sunny crevices. ... Learn More

Sizeable, globular, white flower heads, each flower delicately tipped with blue, open freely on stout stems above strap-shaped leaves. A seedling which appeared here some years ago, this new and seemingly completely hardy variety forms heavy established clumps which improve over the years and amaze all who visit our gardens here. ... Learn More

Huge true blue globular heads flower freely on stout stems above robust clumps of strap-shaped leaves. This seemingly completely hardy variety forms thick established clumps which improve over the years and impress all who visit our gardens here. ... Learn More

Above neat tufts of narrow leaves stand rounded heads of rich-blue, star-shaped flowers, showing dark central veins, and blue stemmed stamens. Seedlings grown from seeds collected from this diminutive "African Lily" may vary a little but will all be lovely. ... Learn More

This relatively small subspecies, consisting of subsp. praecox, subsp. orientalis and subsp. minimus occurs in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the robust semi-evergreen varieties with globes of deep blue flowers, which open very early in the year, before other varieties, sometimes as early as May. ... Learn More

Balls of delicate, pure white flowers arise on long stout stems in mid and late summer amidst vigorous clumps of bright green strap-like leaves. The pure white flowers occasionally have the slightest shade of blushed pink at the tips of the petals. ... Learn More

Seedlings from the cultivar 'Summer Days', produce pale blue globular heads on stout stems above strap-shaped leaves. This lovely hardy variety forms thick established clumps which improve over the years and impress all who visit our gardens here. ... Learn More

Pure white trumpets open on short stems above sprays of green strap-like leaves. Whether grown in a pot or the open ground this dwarf gem performs beautifully. It is long-lived and surprisingly hardy having been frozen solid numerous times in our hilltop gardens in Devon and many garden visitors are often doubt that this tiny plant is in fact an African lily. ... Learn More