Bright pink heads on short stems, with ferny feathery foliage, make this exceptionally compact umbellifer a must for the front of a choice border. It is very slow to spread and certainly not invasive, as well as being bone hardy. As a bonus, the entire plant smells of apples! "To be sought, few herbaceous plants can hold a candle to it in early May." (Graham Stuart Thomas) ... Learn More

Large numbers of heavily doubled cup-shaped tiny yellow "poppies" are massed in branching sprays. Finely divided leaves make a substantial sprawling mass during spring and summer on this unusual member of the poppy family. ... Learn More

A dainty, and nowadays very rare, curiosity. Deeply-divided, finely-cut, fern-like foliage, displays numerous bright yellow flowers consisting of frilly, almost feather-like petals. Also sometimes called Chelidonium 'Bowles Variety'. ... Learn More

Forming a clump of stiff, leafy stems, this valuable late-season plant bears heads of curiously-shaped rich pink flowers resembling gaping mouths, hence the common name "Turtle Head". This lovely flower makes a very useful addition to every garden, flowering from late summer when most others have finished, and right into autumn. ... Learn More

A are and quite superb rockery or wall gem which produces arching stems carrying sprays of yellow 'lambs tail' flowers, sprouting from hardy evergreen succulent rosettes. A very long lived, tough and hardy, high value plant. Seed is absolutely tiny and best results may be produced by gently pushing seeds into cracks in the wall or rockery. Makes a gorgeous display even in the hottest spot on a wall or rockery. ... Learn More

An abundance of tall stems carry swathes of giant white petalled, yellow eyed, daisy flowers thoughout late summer. Clumps will gradually spread and will return reliably each season. ... Learn More

Purplish stems carrying arching spires of fragrant white flowers in mid-autumn, from September into October, rise above shiny divided leaves. One of the treasures of the autumn garden, this is a magnificent and very valuable mid or back of border plant. ... Learn More

This rare plant, native to much of the western United States, from Washington to Nebraska, has hairy stems reaching up to about half a metre tall, and many hairy, fern-like leaves divided into lance-shaped lobes. The flowers are made up of urn-shaped cups of deep silvery-purple-blue petal-like sepals, which are fuzzy with pointed or rounded tips, rarely white or pinkish sepals, and finally a feathery swirl of seed pods appears, that always attracts as much attention as the flower, this fabulous plant being both unmistakeable and unbeatable. Very few viable seeds collected. ... Learn More

One of the herbaceous, non-climbing clematis, this is ideal for the border with its numerous upright stems bearing countless sweetly-perfumed yellow-eyed white flowers, in loose panicles in June and July. Finally, attractive seed heads produce large orange seeds, each with a whispy tail! ... Learn More

This rarely offered form of this spectacular border perennial has purple-bronze foliage on strong arching stems. Strongly perfumed heads of starry white flowers from May to July give this plant exceptional value. This is not a climber like its relatives but is a 'shrub-like' clematis variety, a clump-forming herbaceous perennial, which is perfect for a mixed bed or border and can be pruned down to the ground each spring. ... Learn More

A rare, beautiful and sweetly-fragrant species that is native to China and Korea. A most unusual sub-shrubby species, it nether clings nor climbs, and produces toothed leaves and tubular, hyacinth-like, perfumed blue flowers on erect stems from late summer to mid autumn. It makes a spectacular display in sun to part shade in any well-drained garden soil that is kept moist in summer. ... Learn More

This lovely dwarf catmint forms a low cushion of hairy fragrant leaves, above which, from July until September, arise short spikes carrying globular clusters of bright pink flowers, rather like a candelabra. This is possibly the last of the catmints to be in flower. Wild Basil has mauve coloured flowers unlike Garden Basil which has white flowers. ... Learn More

This vigorous, clump-formimg species produces nemerous leafy stems to three feet or more and bears pointed hairy leaves, glaucous beneath. The beautiful, broad, bell-shaped flowers are pale yellow-green, and wonderfully painted and veined with purple and blue both inside and on the outside. It comes from high woodlands in the Western Himalaya and Kashmir up to 3,500 meters. ... Learn More

The true "Kashmir Bellflower" is a gorgeous plant with slender erect stems bearing large, single, pendulous, milky-blue bell-shaped flowers which are a noticeable flared 'tent-shape'. This beautiful specimen is found in the Himalayas, from Pakistan to Kashmir, at altitudes of 3000-4200m and is to be found flowering from July to August. ... Learn More

Delicate purple flowers with white 'stems' which are the lower part of the flower, arise in compact clumps without any leaves, in the autumn, and can soon naturalise on a rock garden or even in grass. Contrary to its common name, and this is the actual "Autumn Crocus" usually referred to, this beautiful autumn-flowering bulb is not in the slightest related to true crocuses, but is botanically closer to lilies. ... Learn More