Although a close relative of the showy, modern cultivars, you would never guess. This is a tiny alpine, small enough for a trough, making a really low mat of dark green, leathery leaves, and unusually for a heuchera, the disproportionately large flowers are showy, arising in dense spikes of tubular, yellowish flowers, standing well above the mat of foliage. It is perfect for any small rockery or container but prefers very well-drained soil that must not dry out. ... Learn More

From the ramonda-like rosettes of this tiny salvia relative arise many spikes holding dark violet-blue flowers which are most attractive to butterflies. Ideal in wall, trough or rock garden, this alpine gem is seldom seen, although it is an easy plant for the rock garden or for edging in a moist border. It looks particularly good when growing in the cracks between rocks, where the roots can search for cool and moist conditions. ... Learn More

This lovely alpine bears stemless golden saucers which stud the tight blue green cushion throughout early summer. Where hypericums are concerned this is a diamond in a bag of stones, adding form and colour to any rock garden. ... Learn More

A dwarf "Red-hot Poker" from the alpine zones of South Africa. Broad, stumpy spikes of bright orange flowers on very thick stems above a rosette of short fleshy broad leaves. Very lovely here. ... Learn More

Numerous white or pale pink flowers which open fully on sunny day nestle in a tight rosette of deciduous glaucous-green leaves. Plants are best plunged in the alpine house, keeping moist in spring, and just slightly moist even after flowering when they quickly become dormant, new growth appearing in September/October. ... Learn More

Many-petalled, cup-shaped, delicate pink flowers open on branching stems from rosettes of narrow, deep-green leaves all summer long. This unusual plant is endemic to the Sierra Nevada of California in subalpine and alpine moist areas with a rocky habitat. ... Learn More

Tough dark green evergreen rosettes bear large star shaped flowers that are a dazzling bright peachy yellow with red stamens. They flower from late spring to early summer, and can flower again during autumn. They require good drainage so ideal for alpine garden, trough or house, in full sun or partial shade. This newly bred strain is absolutely priceless as it has succulent leaves, which although appearing to resemble those of the winter-dormant forms are in fact EVERGREEN. Furthermore they seem to be extremely resistant to both rotting and pests and diseases. ... Learn More

This choice and quite superb dwarf hardy alpine has rosettes of pale pink flowers radiating from a tiny rosette of succulent green leaves. It is quite hardy and dies down to a resting winter bud underground, the leaves re-appearing each spring. It will gently self-seed in a trough making a gentle drift of glistening flowers. ... Learn More

Appropriately-named, each spring, this tiny herbaceous alpine forms a rosette of thin, radiating succulent leaves. In spring a succession of delicate, palest pink, short-stemmed, tissue-paper flowers arise, in a rosette form, from the centre of this gorgeous gem. ... Learn More

This is the very rare form of one of the most exquisite of all alpine plants, these gorgeous specimens opening large pure ivory-white flowers in April and May above fleshy evergreen leaves. Mature plants can flower at any time right into the late autumn. They are surprisingly bone-hardy with frost, but prefer to be kept in a pot in the alpine house or on a window sill, or grown on a sheltered scree bed or trough in the garden. They always prefer a rich well drained soil where the crown can be kept dry. Just a very few individual fertile seeds are collected each year which come 100% true white. ... Learn More

From a tufted mound of tiny, spathulate leaves arise compact airy spikes of lavender florets which form a small, bristly, bushy shrub. This is a perfect specimen for a trough or dry scree, or a pot in the alpine house. ... Learn More

Sometimes called alpine toadflax, in contrast to other members of the genus, this plant has orange flowers with orange lobes in the centre. It grows well in very poor soil and especially, in the wild, in recently exposed and unconsolidated glacial moraine, where it is found in many mountain ranges in southern and central Europe. These range from the Sierra de Gredos and the Montes de León in Spain to the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula including the Jura mountains Alps, Pyrenees, and central Apennines. ... Learn More

This unique dwarf plant makes a bun of greenish-grey leaves studded with dazzling yellow flowers and is reputedly not the easiest to grow. It is probably best in an alpine house or on a protected scree. One of the rarest plants in Europe, this gem is known as a relict species, the entire world population living on a protected four hectare spot about 20 miles north of Budapest. ... Learn More

Remarkably similar to the Puya of the Andes in South America or Echium wildpretii from the island of Tenerife, this giant unrelated rosette plant displays the evidence of parallel evolution, producing similar looking plants as they evolve in similar habitats. Although the dark maroon to black flowers are attractive, they are almost completely hidden within the bracts. This rare and astonishing plant is native to wetter spots in the alpine zone of Mount Kenya between 3300 and 4600 m, where the extreme climate is usually clear and cold in the mornings, with intense sunshine, and cloudy or foggy ... Learn More

Rare and unique, this palm-like giant Lobelia forms a large rosette of purplish-green, large, narrow, hairy leaves, and a tall sizeable woody trunk. Eventually a giant flower spike arises protected by masses of long, silvery hairy bracts, and finally countless deep blue flowers open. Similar in stature to a giant Echium, it can grow up to 6 metres in total. Rare even in the wild, where it is pollinated by birds, it lives in the high-elevation bogs of the alpine zone, between 3700 and 4300 m (12100 and 14100 ft) and is native to the high Rwenzori Mountains of tropical Eastern Africa from Ugand ... Learn More