Fluffy plates of brilliant pink flowers turn into crimson seed heads, above impressive clumps of mahogany-bronze burnished pinnate leaves. Although it is outstanding in rich or boggy soil, it puts up a superb show wherever you decide to put it, apart from a hot dry bank! ... Learn More

Sprays of delicate white flowers open on short stems, above rosettes of rounded, fleshy leaves on this beautiful little deciduous,tufted plant which blooms in spring and is dormant in summer when it dies down to small tubers. This rarely seen or grown plant is native to the coastline of western North America from far northern California north, where it grows among rocks on ocean side bluffs. ... Learn More

Probably the best and most robust of all of the "Mistmaidens", this really pretty plant makes an attractive clump of shiny, almost circular, dark green fleshy leaves, that could have been carved from wax. Pushing through this cushion appear sprays of pretty, milky-white flowers. This lovely plant finally dies completely away in the heat of summer to deep, underground tubers. Native to western North America from California and north to Alaska, it is totally hardy. ... Learn More

Although it dies down in winter, this substantial gem creates a shrub-like effect in summer, with many upright, branching stems clothed in leathery, silver-grey glaucous leaves. These are topped with fat buds, which open into spectacular poppy-like flowers with golden-yellow centres, and crumpled tissue-paper-like petals pinned together with the mass of yellow stamens. It thrives best in a warm, sunny sheltered position. ... Learn More

Sizeable, yellow-throated, bright pink flowers open early in the year, usually January, very close to the ground, surrounded by narrow foliage. The insides of the flowers are marked with decorative, fine filigree markings of deeper red-purple, almost verging on black, and this is also present as streaks and lines on the outside of the flower at the base, and is even visible when the flowers are closed. Coming from western South Africa, it thrives outside in a well-drained sunny spot, or under alpine glass in a well-drained, loam-based compost. ... Learn More

This species is one of the best-known species from the genus Romulea and is probably the easiest and best species for the outdoor garden. The flowers have 2-3cm long tubular flowers of gorgeous violet-purple, with a white and yellow throat, held on short wiry stems above very narrow wiry leaves. These plants, with the desirable habit of self-seeding, resemble the more common and perpetually popular crocus, with which they are apparently in convergent evolution. It is native to Europe and mainly the Mediterranean region. ... Learn More

This is the pure white form which produces 2-3 cm. long tubular flowers with a white and yellow throat, held on short wiry stems above very narrow wiry leaves. These plants, with the desirable habit of self-seeding, resemble the more common and perpetually popular crocus, with which they are apparently in convergent evolution. It is native to Europe and mainly the Mediterranean region. This species is one of the best-known species from the genus Romulea and is probably the easiest and best species for the outdoor garden. Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

Dazzling golden flowers erupt from tight clusters of thin leaves very late in the season when most others have finished flowering, giving this plant extra value. This very pretty flower from the mountains of South Africa will do best in a warm scree or sheltered rockery, or even better in a container of gritty compost where the bulbs can slowly expand each year. ... Learn More

Pale lilac, delicately pencilled flowers with a yellow centre, one to three per stem, open as soon as the snow melts at high elevations in its home in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The upright growth and delicate, diminutive flowers are two of the distinctive features of this rare gem. It will do best in a pot in the alpine house or maybe a well-drained scree outside. Few seeds collected. ... Learn More

Gorgeous flowers, 18 to 25 mm wide, of deep rosy-pink or dark old-rose with small purplish blue or greyish blue blotches, are held on short wiry stems above very narrow wiry leaves. These rare plants, with the desirable habit of self-seeding, resemble the more common and perpetually popular crocus, with which they are apparently in convergent evolution. ... Learn More

Strong, vigorous plants open thick-petalled, deep purple flowers early in the year on thin, wiry stems which erupt from compact tufts of thin leaves. Looking remarkably like a crocus, these fabulously coloured plants have a strong constitution, and are ideal in a sunny spot with fertile soil and good drainage, or in a container where they will bulk up reliably. ... Learn More

These lovely South African plants come in an amazing range of colours, and do best and multiply well in situations where they have good drainage and sun in the same way as crocuses do. Sandy, loamy soils at the front of a raised bed or border are perfect. And of course they make superb specimens for pot cultivation when they can be divided up every few years as the clump expands. ... Learn More

This really beautiful flower opens its violet-rose to lilac, or rarely salmon-pink flowers, with a violet or greenish yellow cup and a violet blotch or band in the throat. In the wild it is found in clay soils in dry areas of the winter rainfall Cape and blooms in late winter to early spring. ... Learn More

This dwarf species bears pale to intense pink flowers that flare widely open at the mouth, giving a starry appearance, with a pale yellow and white throat, above clumps of narrow, grassy leaves. It will do well in any rich, well drained soil in a sunny spot, but requires a good winter protection. It may succeed best grown in pots as in the wild it grows in high places ranging across a huge swathe of Africa, stretching from the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa to Kenya, the Sudan, southern Ethiopia, and Cameroon. ... Learn More

This exceptionally pretty plant, which appears in late winter and into spring, has almost goblet-shaped, scented yellow flowers, usually with black marks or blotches in the throat, and usually the leaves are spirally twisted, hence its name. It grows in the wild in South Africa, in sandstone and clay soils, from distinctive corms that are flattened with a wide fan-like basal ridge. ... Learn More