One of the really garden-worthy British native plants, this delicate beauty is found growing on grassland on chalk. With attractive, deeply-cut fern-like foliage, and loose panicles of pink-tinged, creamy white, spiraea-like flowers in early summer, it makes a pleasant addition to some of the more garish plants that abound in garden centres, and contrary to the conditions where it grows wild, in the garden it thrives in all but bone dry soils. ... Learn More

This bone-hardy and slow-spreading plant opens its amazingly deep cobalt blue flowers in early spring which arise, on short stems, from a compact rosette of leathery oval leaves. It thrives best in a well-drained rock garden with occasional summer rain, and where other more vigorous plants will not encroach upon it. It also makes a perfect wall or trough plant. ... Learn More

One of the very best Japanese maples for autumn colour, this spectacular variety really comes into its own in autumn, with the most intense, long lasting, fiery scarlet autumn colour of all the Japanese maples. It is ideal for border planting, and will also excel in a large pot or container for many years. ... Learn More

Forming a dense rosette of long, sharp and very narrow leaflets, this unusual frost-hardy plant produces attractive sprays of yellow flowers which are are carried on a strong stalk that can be up 40 in (1 m) high. It is native to tussock grassland in the drier parts of the South Island of New Zealand where it thrives between 300 and 1400 m. In cultivation it does best in a sunny or lightly shaded spot as it does not prefer high summer temperatures and is a perfect replacement for e.g. Agave and Yucca in such climates. In areas where humidity is high it prefers a windy, exposed site. ... Learn More

Blue flowers shading to cream with purple veins open on branching stems. This unusual wildflower is native to western North America where it makes impressive stands in meadows and coniferous forests where it prefers moist areas. It will make an ideal garden plant in gardens that possess these qualities. ... Learn More

Primrose-yellow, darker-anthered "monkshood" flowers open on short stems on this rare gem from the mountain slopes and forest margins of China, Korea and Eastern Russia. Very doubtfully in cultivation, it is a far superior plant to its relative, Aconitum lycoctonum, being shorter and more compact in stature, as well as having flowers which are outward-facing rather than pendent. ... Learn More

Green-lipped, palest yellow flowers open in early summer on this rarely-seen monkshood flower. A cousin to the more common Blue Monkshood, this species is not commonly seen in gardens, where it will form an upright clump of deeply-cut green leaves preferring a site that will not dry out. It also makes an outstanding cut flower. Like all monkshoods, all parts of this plant are poisonous. ... Learn More

Collected originally on our 2004 seed expedition to the Russian island of Sakhalin, ("Land of the Giants") this unusually large, and very lovely plant bears substantial rosettes of elegant ferny leaves from which arise tall, strong stems bearing whorls of sizeable, deepest blue "Monkshood" flowers. ... Learn More

An imposing specimen, forming an upright clump of deeply-cut green leaves, bearing tall, showy, strong, branching spikes of outward-facing, pale silvery-blue flowers. These are delicately-pencilled with deep blue in mid-summer, the effect being somewhat similar to delphinium, making it excellent as a cut flower. RHS AGM winner ... Learn More

A. kolomikta is a large vigorous deciduous climber with twining stems. Leaves ovate, those of mature plants tipped with silver, later pink. Flowers white, male and female on separate plants. Grown for foliage effect. ... Learn More

This superb annual has feathery foliage and a succession of brilliant blood-red flowers, making a delightful plant for the border. It grows well in any ordinary garden soil, but prefers a moist well-drained soil grown in sun or semi-shade. In olden times this scarce and beautiful European native was used as a medicinal and ornamental plant. ... Learn More

thick narrow upward curving blue-green leaves, with a long, hard, dark apine at their tips, form a tight and most attractive rosette on this incredible plant which is one of the most cold tolerant agaves, being extremely frost-resistant when dry. Mature plants bloom in late winter producing yellow flowers along the tall central stem. Making a formidable, and usually quite dwarf succulent specimen, this fabulous drought-resistant plant comes from the hot areas of the USA in the states of Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California. It is a recipient of the AGM Award of Garden Merit. ... Learn More

In spring, spikes of orchid-like chartreuse-yellow flowers open. But then begins the amazing show.....The leaves grow upright at first but then curl round and round as if they have been in curlers. The whole effect is utterly incredible. Furthermore, on occasion, it will re-bloom later in the season. In summer it goes quickly dormant to await another "Jack in a Box" surprise next spring! It is easily over wintered indoors on a sunny window sill when you should stop watering to let the bulb go dormant. Easy-to-grow, this rarely-offered, startling, and quite unique plant is native to the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It is best treated like a succulent, with lots of sun and a well-drained soil, which can be dried out between waterings. Hot and dry conditions seem to encourage the most extreme leaf coils. Very desirable but not commonly available. ... Learn More

One of the true 'white' alliums, this rare plant with attractive purple anthers, produces heads of sizeable bell-shaped flowers which slowly age to pink. With a clustering habit in the wild, it is found up to extreme heights in South Turkey, Lebanon and Cyprus, where it grows in pine and mixed forest, oak, grassland and limestone slopes at altitudes up to 2800m. ... Learn More

One of the very loveliest, striking, attractive, and longest-blooming of all alliums, this dwarf gem opens its magenta-purple flowers with triangular petals which have crisped, white edges. This rare plant grows in the coast ranges of California south of San Francisco in clay and serpentine soils, where it gets naturally what it thrives in, a sunny, well-drained soil with a dryish summer rest. ... Learn More