This is a seed collection of very many easy to grow cacti, all ideally suited to window sills, sun rooms or greenhouses. Although quite slow to grow the first year, they can live for very many years on a hot window sill when they will not suffer from the occasional drying out or even a baking in the hot summer's sun! Indeed, this often stimulates these amazing plants into flowering, when they can produce the most beautiful, strikingly-coloured flowers. ... Learn More

Beautifully fringed, orange and red blooms cover this magnificent, West Indian shrub which has most attractive deeply divided foliage. In a warm country or very well-protected UK garden or a conservatory, it makes one of the most spectacular plants you can ever be lucky enough to grow. ... Learn More

The attractive osier-like Rattan palm, a climbing palm, has pale yellow fruits, about 0.5 cm across, resembling small, pointed cones, arranged in a raceme. These are often known as “canella berries” in the potpourri trade. It is alsothe source of “palm spirals,” either as a tubular spiral or pyramidal spiral, the individual stems 0.5-1 cm wide, the entire spirals 5-10 cm high. It is widely cultivated In India and Australia but in the wild is native to Indonesia, Java and Bali in Indonesia; Peninsular Malaysia; all parts of Thailand; Cambodia; Cochinchina and Central Annam in Vietnam; all part ... Learn More

One of the world's most fabulously fragrant trees, frilly yellow flowers pour out sweet perfume all summer long. Best grown in the tropics and sub tropics, this gorgeous, fast-growing plant can be successfully grown and flowered in a conservatory in cooler climates. The essential oil derived from the flowers, which last a long time after being cut, is used in aromatherapy and perfumes. When we made a visit, just one specimen of this incredible tree perfumed the whole of the Miami Botanical Gardens at Palm Beach. ... Learn More

Purple shoots extend and grow into branching stems covered with toothy lance shaped leaves which will scramble along the ground or through other plants, or even can be tied to a fence or trellis. Huge and quite tremendous three inch long, gorgeously-marked orange-red bells then open, which are followed by walnut-sized orange fruits! This awesome and very rarely offered campanula relative, is endemic to the cloud forests of the Canary Islands. It needs a hot, well-drained, frost-free position in the garden, or even better, a large container indoors in colder countries. ... Learn More

This multi-purpose fruit and also herbal medicinal tree is native to Southeast Asia where it has a variety of uses. For fruit production, because it is a dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown, the large, fleshy, rather olive-like fruits being eaten fresh, salted or in syrup. In addition, a black dye obtained from the fruits is used for making ink. Finally, the wood is soft and light in weight, and is often used for making lightweight furniture and plywood. Very few enormous seeds are ever available. ... Learn More

A rare plant and one of the very few cannas which is both attractive and can be easily grown from seed. An almost endless procession of delicate red-tipped yellow flowers is produced, each of which forms a most intriguing inflated seed pod. This grows numerous hairy appendages which finally fall off to signify that the large, rock-hard, black seeds are ripe. ... Learn More

This native of the Caribbean and tropical Americas has attractive, bright scarlet flowers on stout stems above broad, handsome leaves. The seeds are small, globular, black pellets, hard and heavy enough to sink in water, and which resemble shotgun pellets giving rise to the plant's common name of Indian Shot. They are reputedly hard enough to shoot through wood and still survive and later germinate and according to the BBC, during the Indian Mutiny of the 19th century soldiers used these seeds when they ran out of bullets. Although not carrying the largest flowers of this group, this one is pr ... Learn More

This large Canna species is a striking plant with large ovate leaves resembling a banana plant, a native to forests in South America and the Caribbean, found at moderate altitudes up to 2000m. In late summer terminal inflorescence with small orange-red flowers followed by round, fuzzy, light-yellow fruits appear. ... Learn More

Almost certainly the largest and most impressive of the canna family, this absolutely spectacular plant produces dazzling heads of large orange, or sometimes reddish-pink flowers, rising above very large bright green leaves. It is easy to grow from seed, and, like most Cannas, if sown early and given generous treatment, it can flower the first year, when it will make an imposing focal point and give any patio, or very large pot a taste of the tropics. In colder regions the rhizomes should be protected if left in the ground, or dug up and stored over winter. Native to southern Belize and other ... Learn More

A spectacular pink flowered creeping succulent, this is a perennial evergreen mostly used as ornamental drought tolerant and ground cover plant. It can grow in subtropical, Mediterranean, tropic, desert or temperate climates. The 6cm flowers are followed by globular, purplish-red fruit 2.5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. ... Learn More

A member of the ginger family, originally from the Himalayas, these plants produce tall spikes of bright yellow flowers. Blooms occur from late summer through to early autumn, extending the range of colour in your garden into the autumn months. ... Learn More

This unusual specimen can finally grow into a tall, deciduous tree bearing large, short, sharp prickles all along the branches, and also on the trunk which has a pronounced buttress at the base. The leaves drop off in the dry season, and it is leafless for a long period, allowing the glorious array of large and beautifully-marked pink flowers to display to their best. The large Kapok seed pods contain the fibrous fluff which has been used since early times for a large variety of uses. ... Learn More

This spectacular, fast-growing tree, unbelievably, a member of the Mallow family, bears very tropical-looking palmate foliage, and has an extraordinary bulbous green trunk studded with astonishingly-large, triangular-shaped "thorns". It produces extremely beautiful, sizeable pink and cream lily-like flowers, which are fragrant and borne in great profusion, and are followed by large woody pods that split open to release the long white flossy hairs of the famous kapok. It is native to North-Eastern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Southern Brazil. Although finally becoming an open ground tree in ... Learn More

This easy-to-grow, clumping palm bears abundant soft fronds, and slender, bamboo like stems. It is probably the best palm for screening when planted in groups, and perfect for use in smaller gardens, under planting or next to pathways. The palm spreads and fills out quickly creating a lush, tropical look, making numerous new stems constantly. It looks superb in relatively sheltered spots in part shade to full sun, but also does well indoors ,or even in planters and containers outdoors. ... Learn More