Attractive clusters of sizeable violet-blue flowers, each with a distinct golden yellow eye, smother the wooly, grey, compact-bushy foliage, their dwarf habit making them ideal in the front of borders, or even containers. This very rare plant is native to the high arctic, and in Greenland it is found only in a small area on the east coast. The whole plant is pubescent, with long woolly hairs. In the wild this gem grows on gravelly slopes and in crevices. It will do best on a sharply-drained bed or even in a pot in the alpine house. Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

An exceptionally vigorous "Jacob's Ladder", flaunting bunches of primrose coloured, and sometimes darker peach-coloured trumpet flowers on strong stems of finely-divided foliage. One of the most attractive and unusual flowers in this group! ... Learn More

The ever-popular and easily-grown "Jacobs Ladder" pushes up several stems clad in pinnate leaves topped by panicles of sky blue flowers. ... Learn More

Pure white flowers adorn this lovely albino form of the ever-popular "Jacob's Ladder". It comes quite true from seed and will happily colonise a dark corner. ... Learn More

Predictably from Kashmir comes this bushy form of "Jacob's ladder" with ferny foliage and solid clusters of large silky pale blue flowers in early summer. One of the best butterfly plants you can grow, it prefers fertile, well-drained soil which is not parched, in sun or semi-shade. ... Learn More

This extremely lovely plant opens attractive, bright blue flowers, which are produced from June to September on tall stems up to 1 metre. It flowers from June to September in forests, open slopes and damp places in the Himalayas, from Pakistan to West Nepal, at altitudes of 2400-3700 m. It does best in moist, well-drained soil in sun to semi-shade. Our plants were grown from seed collected by Chris Chadwell on his expedition to the Himalayas in 2013. ... Learn More

Long peachy trumpets with flared yellow ends and deep pink marking on the back, adorn this delightful, compact, front of border plant which has finely cut silvery-leaved foliage, and which flowers prolifically in its first year from sowing. ... Learn More

A delightful form of the North American miniature polemonium or "Jacob's Ladder", Polemonium pauciflorum. Silvery-leaved foliage adorns stems bearing terminal bunches of yellow trumpets, striped in brown, with flared mouths. ... Learn More

This variety has the largest flowers of all of the "Jacob's Ladders". Its name translated, appropriately means 'beautiful'. Yellow-eyed blue saucers are carried on strong stem bearing deeply slashed leaves. ... Learn More

This is a fabulous garden plant discovered here with bright blue flowers above dark purple foliage that deepens in bright sunshine. Our original seed was collected at altitude in Japan where it is already accepted as one of the largest flowered gems of the race, but in 1991, in one tray of seedlings, we were excited to see just one plant with darker foliage which was especially notable in spring when it developed a purple rosette. Subsequent generations retained this feature, a proportion being darker leaved with a few lighter. This new colour break in polemoniums makes this an extremely valu ... Learn More

Very rare, unusual, and easy to grow, this lovely Japanese native woodlander thrives in any shady spot. From late summer to autumn, the upright downy white stalks appear, bearing whorls of white flowers, followed by attractive, showy dark blue berries. The whorls of long, pointed, leathery, dark-green leaves look quite unreal, almost like dazzling shiny plastic. Spreading by underground rhizomes, it is perfect for shade or even in a container too. ... Learn More

An interesting plant in the spiderwort family from the rainforests of Asia with attractive, broad foliage and small fruits that look like a cluster of shiny metallic blue pearls. It has potential as a shade-loving border plant, a showy pot plant or for use in floral arrangements. ... Learn More

This valuable, gregarious, low trailing, ground-cover plant, valuable for its early autumn flowering, will scramble over rocks and wall edges quite happily, quickly covering ground and rocks, the spikes of bright pink clusters being held erect from the red trailing stems. Native to the Himalayas, these seeds were collected at 4,000m in altitude from the brightest-colured plants! ... Learn More

Delicate ice-blue flowers with short stalks and a very long tube, have a violet central stripe on each petal, and arise from a central rosette of narrow shiny leaves. This rarely-seen native of the Roggeveld in South Africa will do well in a rich, well drained soil in a sunny spot, or in a large pot in the conservatory or alpine house. ... Learn More

Sprays of saucer-shaped, dark red flowers open from June to August on hairy stems, above a vigorous rosette of hairy, grey-green, strawberry-like leaves. This vibrant and delightful Himalayan cinquefoil is an excellent long flowering plant, and given a sunny, well-drained site, it is trouble-free and easy to grow. ... Learn More