This rare pure white form has slightly narrower petals than the coloured varieties but still flowers over the entire year in warmer gardens even during the winter! Once established mature clumps continue to produce a seemingly endless supply of attractive crocus-like flowers. Occasionally odd seedlings may produce pale pink flowers. ... Learn More

From clumps of sword-shaped leaves arise stems of cup-shaped flowers from white, through pinks to deepest vermilion. This South African Gladiolus relative provides valuable colour from August right through autumn and into winter if it remains mild. ... Learn More

Dense racemes of purple-blue flowers appear very suddenly in late summer and early autumn, before the linear leaves. One day it is summer, and the next day they are there! Rare in the UK, it is now restricted to Cornwall, parts of Devon and the Channel Islands. ... Learn More

Star-shaped, bell-like violet-blue flowers open over waxy, strap-like leaves in early spring. Endemic to central and southern Europe and Turkey. This heirloom is one of the most shade-tolerant bulbs, naturalising easily under shrubs or in grass where the massed heads can really create a purple haze. ... Learn More

Strikingly-dense, pyramidal racemes of starry mid-blue to lilac flowers are held erect over bright green strappy foliage from March until April. Similar in size to a bluebell, but earlier flowering, this lovely plant will provide a carpet of blue blooms across a shady area and will do best in shady, damp woodland where it will naturalise well. ... Learn More

Racemes of lilac-blue flowers with slightly reflexed petals appear in early winter and will show through into the spring, suspended from narrow stems that emerge from clumps of 3-4 strap-like leaves that first show in autumn. This rarely offered plant is native to Syria and southern Turkey, where it is most at home in scrubland or in shady rocky places. Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

This easy-to-grow plant opens its early blue flowers, rather like small erythroniums, in a loose, few-flowered raceme from January to March. Intriguingly, it starts its growth in early autumn and remains wintergreen, and by using this stratagem to flower early, makes its spikes of hanging, reflexed bright blue bells. Native to the Elburz Mountains in Northern Iran and the Caspian region, where it grows in lightly shaded woodland, it does best with a dry summer rest. Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

From rosettes of strap-shaped leaves arise pyramids of buds which open into darker-veined, pale blue starry flowers. This is a Mediterranean species, originally from Middle East and it does best in a poor stony soil to flower well, otherwise it may develop an abnormal number of offsets subsequently missing out the flowering, although this is a good way to improve the clump. ... Learn More

A very rare species, unlike its closely relative S. cilicica, this gem appears and flowers just days after the snow melts where it grows in shaded rocky habitats, and at the base of deciduous trees. The spectacular flowers make congested pyramids of ivory white stars, each petal delicately pencilled along its centre in blue. In the wild it is protected and distributed in Lebanon, W. Syria and in one location on the Israeli side of Mt. Hermon. Seed scarce and rarely available. ... Learn More

This valuable plant is often grown for its star-shaped, amethyst-blue to violet, grape-hyacinth-like flowers, which open in late spring, much later than the more popular Siberian squill, and also the various Muscari which it resembles. They are very easy to grow and naturalise well. ... Learn More

Stout stems hold heavy heads of bright blue flowers over clumps of green strap-like leaves which arise from slowly enlarging bulbs. This lovely, easily grown, very long lived and exceptionally large-flowered plant does not come from Peru. When the original bulbs were imported from Spain in the 17 century the ship they travelled on was "The Peru"! ... Learn More

Stout stems hold heavy heads of green-striped white buds which open to bright blue flowers, over clumps of green strap-like leaves, which arise from slowly enlarging and multiplying bulbs. This is the rarer form of the easily grown, very long lived, and exceptionally large-flowered plant, which does not in fact does not come from Peru. When the original bulbs were imported from Spain in the 17 century the ship they travelled on was "The Peru"! ... Learn More

These flowers open very early, between February and April, displaying short conical spikes of deep blue flowers, that hang to one side of the stem and which gradually expand as the spike extends, so that after flowering has finished the spike may be eight inches tall. It is ideal outside in a well-drained sunny spot and excellent in a pot or under glass where you can enjoy much earlier flowers and the wonderful scent. ... Learn More

Although this exceptional, rarely-seen plant has a name that tells us that it is the scilla that looks like a scilla, which is true, it is somehow not very helpful. Feathery, neat spikes, packed with pale mauve-pink flowers, open above rich green, glossy, strap-shaped grassy blades in late summer. Yes, late summer! How many scillas bloom in any season other than spring? This attractive, bone hardy, easy-to-grow plant, is yet another that will stump your gardening friends. Few good seeds collected. ... Learn More

Narrow strap-shaped leaves and pale stems bear short racemes holding nodding, bowl-shaped, ivory-white flowers. It is native to south western Russia, the Caucasus, and Turkey, and strangely, despite its name, it is not native to Siberia. It is completely hardy and if you need something to cover ground or a rockery it has a tendency to spread, both by bulb offshoots and self-seeding. A worthy RHS AGM winner ... Learn More