A medium stature penstemon bearing attractive mauve flowers on relatively short stems in mid summer. ... Learn More

A rare and choice low branching plant, spectacular with its colourful foliage, leaves being variegated with cream and green, with a strong V-shaped marking which is brick-red when fresh, but darkens to blackish-brown. Airy deep-pink spikes of delightfully graceful flowers appear in the autumn. A proportion of seedlings will revert to other patterns and colour schemes, so select the brightest. ... Learn More

This easy, but surprisingly uncommon plant, has a basal rosette of blue-grey leaves, from which arise branching, leafy stems. At the end of each division open frilly, white or pale pink flowers, which are ideal for a rock garden, raised bed or even a container. ... Learn More

This delightful, bone hardy, extremely dwarf shrub is native mainly to California and is confined to rocks and crevices in the mountains of the interior of western North America. It displays its evergreen blue-green tufts, and attractive, small bottle brush-like white flowers in summer and does well in sun or part shade in very sharply drained soil. In cultivation it will do well in trough, crevice garden or scree bed and will make a good pan for an alpine show. ... Learn More

This bone-hardy plant, surprisingly in the rose family, makes attractive creamy sprays of bottle brush-flowers which open from pink buds. It is a clumpy, mat-forming perennial herb growing in cracks and crevices in riverside cliffs in the state of Washington. ... Learn More

The "Tunic Flower" is a low-growing alpine or rock garden plant, which forms a mound of fresh-green leaves, bearing a cloud of tiny white or pale pink flowers beginning in early summer, and continuing for weeks. It is excellent as an edging plant, or growing in the cracks of rock walls where plants will self seed prolifically, unless faded flowers are trimmed off. This species is an excellent choice for summer colour in the rock garden where it will stay evergreen in mild winter areas ... Learn More

This rare monotypic plant, in a genus all on its own, is related to Laburnum, differing primarily in the upright racemes of beautiful fragrant yellow flowers. It prefers a sheltered well-drained site and when in full bloom is gorgeous and will defy all comers to name it! Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

An extremely rare plant only recently having been "re-discovered" after being thought to be extinct in the wild. This gorgeous, heavenly scented, almost constant-flowering plant forms a strong, vigorous, hemispherical mound of snow-white blooms. It can, if desired, also tastefully twirl itself around taller neighbours, even turning into a climber at times! One of the world's most fragrant flowers, at night it comes into its own when it produces copious quantities of vanilla & liquorice perfume! In the right conditions it is a true perennial plant, and one of the ancestors of modern Petunias, ... Learn More

Countless star-shaped lipstick-red flowers open over a very long season into late autumn on bushy, spreading plants. A new and very rare flower, it was only discovered as recently as 2007 in the remote jungles of Brazil. When grown as a container plant in a sheltered spot, or even better in a conservatory, it is a true perennial and will continue opening its buds right through the winter making a dazzling display on a solid compact plant. This gorgeous species was under threat of extinction, with just 14 wild plants left in its native country. ... Learn More

Sprays of fluffy, lacy, parsley-like green foliage, support intricate heads of soft, greenish-yellow, and sometimes pinkish white flowers, which open from from July to September. With a main locus in the Italian Alps, this unusual dwarf has only recently been introduced to gardens . ... Learn More

A regal plant for the back-of-the-border. Broomstick-sized, but hollow, ruby red stems ageing black, clad with triangular leaves, bearing great umbels of purple and white seedheads. Hugely impressive. ... Learn More

Flared lavender-blue trumpet flowers with bright blue pollen, and loved by bees and butterflies, open on hairy stems bearing toothed, hairy leaves, very late in the season, from May into August. This astonishing tough perennial (yes! A bone-hardy perennial phacelia) is native to cold Douglas Fir and Redwood forests in Northern California and Oregon, and makes an amazing display in any open spot. ... Learn More

This rare, showy perennial species of Phacelia, endemic to western North America, grows mainly at subalpine to alpine elevations in forest openings, or above the treeline among rocks and sand. The showy, deep blue-mauve sprays of flowers have prominent anthers, which add to its appeal, but the foliage is quite extravagant being composed of tufts of deeply cut, grey silky foliage. A magnificent plant for a dry rockery or to win a prize as a potted alpine specimen! ... Learn More

With strong heads of golden yellow flowers amidst thick, evergreen, sage-like, silver-grey leaves, this compact, low growing, sun loving, frost hardy, drought tolerant, seaside friendly shrub will flourish in any well drained soil, whether sandy or chalky and especially in a sheltered spot in full sun. ... Learn More

Although it looks tender, this Syrian plant is actually bone-hardy, stout stems bearing tiered whorls of hooded, butter yellow flowers in summer, above rough heart-shaped basal leaves. A valuable and easy plant that thrives in poor dry soil. ... Learn More