This striking, fast-growing, deciduous shrub bears countless single, fragrant, white (edible!) flowers which are borne in profusion from April to July. It bears downy, greyish, vine-shaped leaves, and does best in a sheltered spot making it an absolute gem in any garden. ... Learn More

Agastache rugosa 'Honey Bee Blue', commonly known as Honey Bee Blue Hyssop, is a showy, aromatic perennial that attracts pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Its upright spikes of lavender-blue flowers bloom from mid-summer to early autumn, standing tall above fragrant, mint-scented green foliage. This plant’s nectar-rich flowers make it an excellent choice for wildlife gardens, cottage gardens, or mixed borders. Thriving in full sun to partial shade and well-drained soils, Honey Bee Blue is drought-tolerant once established, making it ideal for low-maintenance or xeriscapi ... Learn More

This delightful species of ornamental onion has very narrow leaves and produces loose umbels of nodding buds which later arise to balls of purplish-pink flowers in early summer. It naturalises easily making attractive drifts without becoming a nuisance. It is also known as "nodding onion" and "lady's leek" This plant is native to North America from New York to British Columbia south to Virginia and Kentucky, and south in the mountains, where it grows in dry woods, rock outcroppings, and prairies. The bulb is edible and has a strong onion flavour. ... Learn More

These edible violet flowers attract bees and butterflies, and are often used in ornamental dry bouquets. It is native to Europe, Asia and North America, indeed it is the only species of allium native to both the New and the Old Worlds. ... Learn More

This stately, upright, bushy annual bears foliage which is heavily splashed in crimson and gold in the late summer and autumn garden, the leaves on the upper plant often contrasting in colour from the lower ones. Usually grown not for its flowers, but for its beautifully coloured foliage, this versatile plant also makes a fantastic microsalad leaf to impress your friends who have not seen it served on a plate before. A famous and quite stunning specimen, it is usually called Joseph's coat after the Biblical figure, who is said to have worn a coat of many colours! ... Learn More

In the first year, this rewarding, but sadly becoming-rarer British native flower, makes a large striking rosette of floppy dark green leaves, its strong roots soon dying safely away underground for the winter. The following spring, strong stems bear clusters of large, attractive purple "thistle" flowers, which open from mid summer to autumn. They then produce branches decorated with attractive, cherry-sized hooked burrs, or seed capsules, which are often used by children to throw onto coats and woolly jumpers causing much distress to their parents! The roots are black on the outside, and usua ... Learn More

The "Himalayan Coralberry" is a cool growing compact bush from the eastern Himalayas bearing dark green leaves with undulate margins. Profuse, star-shaped, white to pale pink flowers in early summer produce many berries in autumn and throughout winter and early spring, which remain on the plant giving it a very decorative look, making it ideal for growing as a pot plant for indoors, although it can stand mild frosts. Though not usually grown as a fruit crop, the berries, which have have a mild sweet taste, are edible and children are very fond of them. ... Learn More

This attractive lily has flower stalks which can be more than two feet in length, bearing many white six-petalled flowers, in groups of two or three, each about 2 cm across. The stamens are tricoloured - purple and white, with yellow at the curled end. The rhizomes are edible, and were used as food by the Maori people of old. ... Learn More

This striking edible is a purple globe variety, similar to Green Globe in habit, but with a finer flavour, and attractive large purple thistle-like flower heads. It has many culinary purposes as well as offering a striking architectural presence in any garden. ... Learn More

In early summer, from attractive bluish-green clumps of long narrow silvery foliage, arise strong thick stems that bear dense, un-branched, cylindrical spikes of gorgeous, yellow, sweetly-scented, star-shaped flowers. These are in fact edible, very decorative and can make a tasty addition to the salad bowl. They give way to decorative seed pods like shiny green marbles which can be left on the plant through winter to add interest. They are perfect for incorporating into borders, gravel gardens, or meadow style planting schemes as butterflies and bees are attracted to its nectar-rich blossoms. ... Learn More

This amazing plant makes an amazingly fast growing shrubby-looking specimen, which, in a few weeks can either hide a small shed or be a lovely spot plant. It makes a tall spire of succulent and tasty, deep beetroot-red, triangular leaves, which can be pulled off and eaten in salads or cooked like spinach, along with tall dense racemes of edible, red-purple flowers which are followed by papery seeds. ... Learn More

This lovely tropical and sub-tropical shrub or bushy tree has glossy, ovate, evergreen leaves on twigs which are covered with rust-coloured scales when young and are bare when older. Sprays of attractive pink and white flowers open, producing striking, bright red, two-valved fruits, covered with dense soft bristles. When ripe, they split open revealing masses of small, inedible, fleshy seeds, covered with red-orange pulp. The inedible fruit is harvested for its seeds which produce the reddish orange dye annatto, which is one of the most important food grade natural colourants widely used in t ... Learn More

This amazing bromeliad looks almost otherworldly with its large dark green rosette of spine-edged leaves surrounding the centre, in which the leaves turns a spectacular lipstick-red in mature plants, before they produce a long stem of attractive flowers which later become beautiful round yellow fruits. The fruit is edible although rather acidic, but the medicinal properties of the bromeliad family are often used as a natural anti-inflammatory. This fabulous plant is commonly found in northern South America in countries like Mexico and the Caribbean islands. ... Learn More

From the mountains of southern New Zealand comes this fine hardy plant, with dwarf grassy clumps which sprout thick spires of starry, deep yellow flowers, vaguely like "Red-hot Pokers". With fleshy edible roots, (should you be hungry), this New Zealand gem is totally hardy and improves over the years. ... Learn More

This is the true wild form of this lovely, ancient cottage garden flower. A fast growing annual or biennial, it has aromatic leaves and heads of vivid-orange daisy-like flowers which are borne in long and seemingly everlasting succession in the summer and autumn until the first hard frosts. The daisy-like flowers are excellent for cutting and can also be added to salads as an edible flower. They can even be used as a substitute for saffron when colouring rice dishes, and also can be made into tea. Finally, they are very bee-friendly! ... Learn More