This unusual alpine plant carries clusters of buttermilk-yellow flowers on stems carrying lanceolate leaves, which arise from a basal rosette of spathulate leaves. This high altitude species exhibits the same features as some of the Lychnis catchflies in having sticky hairs, especially on the leaves. In the wild in southern Europe it grows amongst mountain rocks and in pastures to 2000m. ... Learn More

From a low cushion of grey-green leaves arise short stems, bearing clusters of pink flowers starting in late spring and early summer, although in the wild, high in the Pyrenees it flowers much later from August to September. The Tight compact cushions are perfect for rock gardens or troughs. ... Learn More

One of the most popular plants in rock gardens and dry stone walls, or between stepping stones on a path, this lovely semi-evergreen cushion plant opens its bright pink flowers all summer long, from May to August. This species extends from the mountains of Spain to Corsica, Sardinia and Slovenia, and from the Apennines to the Alps. AGM winner ... Learn More

This ancient member of the carnation family, "Bouncing Bett", should be in every cottage garden and will form long-lived, slowly-spreading clumps which display sprays of sweetly perfumed pink flowers which are produced from spring until late autumn. ... Learn More

This ancient member of the carnation family, "Bouncing Bett", should be in every cottage garden, and will form long-lived, slowly-spreading clumps which display sprays of very sweetly perfumed, double pink flowers which are produced from spring until late autumn. ... Learn More

Endemic to China this rare plant is on the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This unlikely but gorgeous relative of asarum, or wild ginger, grows in dense forests, valleys, and stream banks, at 600-1000 meters where it bears heart-shaped, woolly, felted leaves and bright yellow flowers in April-May, and is a must for the woodland garden where it will spread if happy. It was named after Augustine Henry, an Irish physician, who collected intensively in China for the Royal Botanic Garden Kew. Very few seeds collected. ... Learn More

An unusual alpine, with dark purple thistle-like flowers some 3cm across and papery, purple-tinged bracts are displayed in August above a basal rosette of long, deeply lobed leaves with white woolly undersides. ... Learn More

This encrusted saxifrage makes a tight mat of very small compact rosettes which have silver-edged, dark-green leaves, and arching, dividing stems that bear sprays of pure white flowers in summer. It comes from the mountains of central and southern Europe, where it lives on limestone screes and rocks, and will do best if grown in tufa, but if in the open garden, it is best kept out of full sun. ... Learn More

This rare mossy saxifrage, restricted to the Cevennes region of Southern France, makes an exceptionally tight, dark green "mossy" dome, completely covered in yellow-eyed white flowers in spring. ... Learn More

In early summer, from a dense, solid cushion consisting of compact evergreen rosettes of spoon-shaped, mid-green leaves with lime-encrusted margins, arise dense hairy sprays of rounded, sometimes red or yellow-spotted, white flowers in early summer. It performs well in a moderately fertile, very well drained scree or rockery. ... Learn More

Dense mats of medium sized, unusually narrow, lime-encrusted, silvery rosettes erupt with red-stemmed Inflorescences, 12-24cm high carrying branched panicles of small starry flowers with long yellowish-white petals. These superb alpines grow on the Eastern Alps, including the Dolomites, and also in northern Yugoslavia on limestone rocks. ... Learn More

Masses of small yellow star-shaped flowers arise in spring and early summer on a low shiny cushion of tiny, rounded, succulent, heart-shaped leaves. They are special because, unlike most other saxifrages, they self-seed gently into cracks where very few other plants will grow or establish and, very much like erinus, rarely becomes a nuisance, ... Learn More

A tight rosette of silver encrusted leaves give way to a bright red flowering stem, which arises like a dragon's head from the blood-red-centred rosette, bearing sprays of pink flowers. The colony of rosettes will slowly expand to make a mounded stunning effect. These plants do best in a well drained soil in a trough or rock garden. ... Learn More

A mass of small white flowers in early spring against emerald-green foliage. Prefers full sun, or partial shade with free-draining, ordinary, or chalky soil or compost. Ideal for a small alpine bowl with other coloured Saxifragas, Ajugas and Sempervivums or placed in the fringes of the border or rockery. ... Learn More

This rare, bone-hardy, enigmatic, but vigorous plant forms a rosette of coarsely-toothed, kidney-shaped leaves, from which, in August, arise several stems bearing "night-sky" sprays of starry, dark purple-maroon flowers. It comes from partly shady wet spots, at the sides of streams and ravines on Japan's northern island, Hokkaido. Also on, Honshu, on the road from Takayama to Matsumoto! ... Learn More