This delicate, small suckering shrub boasts pretty, single, creamy-white flowers, up to 2 in. across (5 cm), in late spring to early summer. Sweetly scented, these are borne in profusion on prickly stems bearing handsome, fern-like foliage of bright green leaves that are composed of rounded, delicate leaflets. As an extra bonus, the blossoms are followed by sizeable, spherical, purplish-black fruits. Disease, salt and drought tolerant, this beautiful species rose is perfect as a groundcover or as a low hedge. A hardy, tough and reliable plant, it is extremely suitable for use on poor soil and ... Learn More

A very rare, semi-deciduous bramble, making long slender stems bearing most attractive, solitary, arrow-like leaves in a herring bone pattern. Dense bunches of white flowers finally produce elongated but compact clumps of almost opalescent orange-red fruits, which posses a unique good flavour when ripe. Almost certainly the latest to fruit of all brambles in the UK, ours was still fruiting on a shady bank in December (when this picture was taken)! Also an excellent ground cover plant, it is sumptuous when planted to overhang a wall or container. Like most brambles it does best if controlled a ... Learn More

This is the rare, double-flowered form of this attractive garden-worthy shrub, with perennial, not biennial woody stems (unlike many other rubus forms.) It is grown not only for its attractive many-petalled, dazzling-red flowers, but for the juicy fruits which mature in late summer to early autumn resembling large orange to orange-red raspberries 1.5–2 cm long, which are used to make jams and pies in their North American home. These fruits are also called Russian Raspberries or Salmon Berries. Traditionally, the berries were eaten mixed with salmon roe, hence their name, but we do not recom ... Learn More

This mysterious, and very rarely-seen plant makes attractive compact bushes of rigid, branched stems bearing evergreen spiny leaves, and bears greenish flowers followed by sizeable gorgeous red berries throughout the winter and following spring! Quite incredibly, it is a member of the lily family! For hundreds of years herbalists have used butcher's broom in the treatment of various ailments. And presumably butchers-of-old used branches to clean their work tops with the sharp foliage? For the chemists amongst you, Butcher's Broom contains 0.8-1.5% quinolizidine alkaloids, principally spartein ... Learn More

This shrub or small tree can be found growing wild just about everywhere in Britain, the fragrant, flat topped, cream flower heads appear in May and June followed by the purple-black berries in September. The flowers are used to make the delicately-perfumed elder flower champagne, whilst the berries are used for wine. It used to be said that if you had an elder tree in the garden you had a medicine chest, or even a larder! The pith of the stems is easily pushed out and whistles were made from the hollow stems, the belief being that the sweetest sounding ones were made from trees that grew aw ... Learn More

Seeds collected from the very best cultivars of the dark, narrow leaved forms of the fragrant-flowered elder such as 'Black Lace'. Seedlings will vary, with less than half having dark or very dark foliage, and pink or dark pink flowers. It is very important indeed to remember that many green seedlings will turn darker as the plants mature through the summer in their first year, so do not discard all green-leaved seedlings. ... Learn More

A generous packet of ready-stratified seeds from dark-leaved cultivars such as 'Black Beauty'. The leaves of these plants will vary a lot in colour from darkest purple through browns to green, and also in shape, from very finely divided ones to normal broad-leaved forms. Although less than half of these seedlings will have the darker leaves and more desirable pink, rather than white flowers, it is important to allow the plants to mature as the leaves often do not reveal their final colouring until the second year. ... Learn More

Bright red elder berries open in dazzling clusters amongst the finely-divided golden feathery foliage, and even in full sun the foliage of this superb and striking Elder will look luminous and healthy, completely resisting sun-scorch. These exceptional plants are long-lived, even making superb hedging plants up to 2 m tall! Few fertile seeds set. ... Learn More

White, fragrant spring flowers give way to dazzling, pendulous clumps of pillar-box red berries, which shine with great intensity. A great improvement on our own black-fruited elder and now you can make red elderberry wine! Collected on our Russian trip to Sakhalin (RBS0265). ... Learn More

A spectacular, small to medium sized, deciduous or evergreen tree that can reach up to 20 m tall. With a spreading crown, compound leaves and a profusion of deep red flowers in spring, it is well-suited to shade as an ornamental tree in warmer regions. The new leaves are bright red and add to the tree's attractiveness. It is named for the copious nectar that drips from its flowers, which attracts various species of birds and insects. ... Learn More

Securinega suffruticosa is a deciduous shrub growing to 1.5m. It flowers from Aug to Sept, and the seeds ripen from Sep to Oct. The flowers are dioecious, individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant, so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required. The plant is not self-fertile. This plant is commonly used in Chinese herbalism,(USE AT OWN RISK) where it is considered to be one of the 50 fundamental herbs where it is used in the treatment of contusions and nervous paralysis. ... Learn More

The Candlestick Cassia gets its name from the large sprays of upright, fragrant yellow flowers that resemble candles, and in a similar way to the buddleia bush, it is a magnet for butterflies. A native to Central and South America, it makes a showy addition to any warm or well-protected garden, where it will bloom from spring to autumn, bearing large green leaves which fold up at night. ... Learn More

This is the rarely-offered pale pink form of this most ornamental shrub bearing clusters of attractive flowers held above evergreen compound leaves. It grows well in almost any position but is especially suitable for wet or moist areas in warmer climates. In winter, long seed pods with a distinctive rattle appear, hence one of its common names. ... Learn More

Attractive, evergreen, dome-shaped mounds display clusters of fragrant yellowish-white flowers followed by bright red fruit when pollinated. These shrubs are perfect for low hedging or specimen plants, and are especially good in containers. This really is an excellent shade-loving evergreen shrub, and is quite unusual in that the plants are either male or female, the female forms being the best (of course!) as they are the ones with attractive sprays of dazzling red berries which are an added plus. ... Learn More

This impressive, very choice and early flowering shrub is native to both Chile and New Zealand and produces large, bright yellow flowers which are borne in abundance over a long period from late winter to spring. These are followed by long slender pods, resembling a string of four-winged beads. Leaves are glossy and dark green, smaller than those of Sophora japonica. ... Learn More