Dazzling golden flowers erupt from tight clusters of thin leaves very late in the season when most others have finished flowering, giving this plant extra value. This very pretty flower from the mountains of South Africa will do best in a warm scree or sheltered rockery, or even better in a container of gritty compost where the bulbs can slowly expand each year. ... Learn More

Pale lilac, delicately pencilled flowers with a yellow centre, one to three per stem, open as soon as the snow melts at high elevations in its home in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The upright growth and delicate, diminutive flowers are two of the distinctive features of this rare gem. It will do best in a pot in the alpine house or maybe a well-drained scree outside. Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

Gorgeous flowers, 18 to 25 mm wide, of deep rosy-pink or dark old-rose with small purplish blue or greyish blue blotches, are held on short wiry stems above very narrow wiry leaves. These rare plants, with the desirable habit of self-seeding, resemble the more common and perpetually popular crocus, with which they are apparently in convergent evolution. ... Learn More

Strong, vigorous plants open thick-petalled, deep purple flowers early in the year on thin, wiry stems which erupt from compact tufts of thin leaves. Looking remarkably like a crocus, these fabulously coloured plants have a strong constitution, and are ideal in a sunny spot with fertile soil and good drainage, or in a container where they will bulk up reliably. ... Learn More

These lovely South African plants come in an amazing range of colours, and do best and multiply well in situations where they have good drainage and sun in the same way as crocuses do. Sandy, loamy soils at the front of a raised bed or border are perfect. And of course they make superb specimens for pot cultivation when they can be divided up every few years as the clump expands. ... Learn More

This really beautiful flower opens its violet-rose to lilac, or rarely salmon-pink flowers, with a violet or greenish yellow cup and a violet blotch or band in the throat. In the wild it is found in clay soils in dry areas of the winter rainfall Cape and blooms in late winter to early spring. ... Learn More

This dwarf species bears pale to intense pink flowers that flare widely open at the mouth, giving a starry appearance, with a pale yellow and white throat, above clumps of narrow, grassy leaves. It will do well in any rich, well drained soil in a sunny spot, but requires a good winter protection. It may succeed best grown in pots as in the wild it grows in high places ranging across a huge swathe of Africa, stretching from the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa to Kenya, the Sudan, southern Ethiopia, and Cameroon. ... Learn More

This exceptionally pretty plant, which appears in late winter and into spring, has almost goblet-shaped, scented yellow flowers, usually with black marks or blotches in the throat, and usually the leaves are spirally twisted, hence its name. It grows in the wild in South Africa, in sandstone and clay soils, from distinctive corms that are flattened with a wide fan-like basal ridge. ... Learn More

These reliable, clove-scented, purple crocus-like flowers have yellow centres with bronze-gold feathering on the backs of their petals, and erupt from compact tufts of thin leaves. Flowering from Feb-Apr, they ultimately make strong, vigorous plants. They are long-lived with a strong constitution, and are ideal in a sunny spot with fertile soil and good drainage, or in a container where they will bulk up reliably. ... Learn More

Superb, hooded, helmet-shaped flowers of deepest rich purple-blue are held on stout stems amongst short but very thick and leathery, glossy leaves. After several years it forms a huge clump. The flowers appear whilst the leaves are still half developed, so the blooms are revealed in all their glory. ... Learn More

In late summer, from the centre of a stout growth of heavily corrugated dark green leaves, arise spikes of large, brilliant purple, orchid-like flowers with a white throat and slightly paler hood. These completely hardy, herbaceous relatives of the tropical gingers grow in the wild at great altitude in the eastern Himalayas, in Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal and Sikkim. RHS Trials gave them an AGM, and noted that they were "Good value plants that are vigorous and produce plenty of flowers over a long period." ... Learn More

This very long lived and exotic looking plant is in fact completely hardy. Exceedingly lovely, soft yellow, orchid-like hooded flowers, arise from tufts of glossy lanceolate leaves over a long period in early and midsummer. ... Learn More

Roscoea humeana, commonly known as Hume’s Roscoea or Hardy Ginger, is a striking perennial from the Zingiberaceae family, native to the mountainous regions of China. This compact plant features lush, lance-shaped green leaves and produces exotic, orchid-like flowers in shades of purple, lilac, or occasionally white. Blooming in late spring to mid-summer, its unique flowers create an eye-catching display in shaded garden borders, woodland settings, or containers. Unlike tropical gingers, Roscoea humeana thrives in cooler climates and is fully hardy in temperate zones. Its ability to tolerate ... Learn More

Large, deep purple, hooded orchid-like flowers open over folded sword-like rich green leaves in midsummer on this very beautiful and permanent plant. ... Learn More

The full name is Roscoea purpurea var. procera. Large, sumptuous, exotic, pale purple, orchid-like flowers are held on thick stems bearing broad, fleshy, pointed leaves. A very desirable,very long-lived and bone hardy member of the ginger family. This is probably the largest and easiest to spread of all of these orchid-like plants. ... Learn More