One of the most valuable cottage garden flowers, but sadly ignored and rarely seen, is this sweetly perfumed plant. Because it does not possess bright flowers it is often left to languish in some dark corner....The impressive spike-like inflorescence of this ancient ornamental cottage garden plant takes up most of the upper stem, and is densely packed with many deeply-fragrant yellow-eyed white flowers. The relatively insignificant leaves are divided deeply into many narrow lobes. Fill your garden with musky perfume! ... Learn More

This attractive annual with vibrant yellow flowers, is an extremely beneficial, indeed often essential plant for the wild flower meadow. With the upper lip having two white or purple teeth, it provides summer colour, and also papery seed pods that rattle when the seed is ripe, and in olden days this was said to show that the meadow was ready to be cut, hence its other common name of "hay rattle". ... Learn More

Closely related to Kerria, this rarely encountered deciduous shrub is the only species in this (monotypic) genus. It has arching shoots and tapered, sharply toothed, deeply veined mid-green leaves, above which, in late spring and early summer, sizeable, four-petalled white flowers are produced from shoot tips, the large glossy black berries following later. ... Learn More

Gorgeous sprays of fragrant creamy-white or pink star-shaped flowers are borne in open panicles on woolly, red-brown stalks. Impressive, strongly veined, horse-chestnut-like leaves form a solid mound on this robust, clump-forming plant. The Royal Horticultural Society have deservedly given it the Award of Garden Merit (AGM). ... 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

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

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

The lovely "Dog Rose" is native to Europe, North West Africa and western Asia. It makes a perfect addition to a wild garden and is often used for hedging. The gorgeous flowers can vary from deep pink to almost white, maturing into attractive, oval 1.5–2 cm red-orange fruit, or hip or hep! The flesh of the fruit is noted for its high vitamin C level, and is used to make syrup, tea and marmalade, and indeed it has been grown or encouraged in the wild for the production of vitamin C from its fruit (often as rose-hip syrup), especially during conditions of scarcity or during wartime. ... Learn More

These incredible, compact, disease-resistant plants will flower surprisingly quickly from seed, even in four months! We did not believe it until we trialled them! Yes, all this from seed! Sweetly-scented blooms, in a range of shades through pink to white, appear on this beautiful miniature rose, which is perfect for growing in pots, although if grown in the ground it will become a low growing, hardy perennial shrub. The rarely-seen and unique Fairy Rose is a Polyantha, with many clusters of blooms, and they are valued for their profuse clumps of ever-blooming double and single flowers, which a ... Learn More

A healthy, tough and extremely vigorous rose with spreading growth, bearing masses of pure white flowers, with a strong sweet fragrance, which are held in beautiful, flat-topped, cascading clusters. These can sometimes be made up of hundreds of individual flowers each facing outwards, exposing a cluster of pretty yellow stamens. The heavy masses of perfumed flowers are most attractive to bees, making it a good choice for a wildlife garden, and also for growing through large trees, or to cover large unsightly buildings or walls. The Royal Horticultural Society has given it its prestigious Aw ... Learn More

Charming single pink rose flowers, with a white centre behind a mop of prominent stamens, displayed against bright green foliage with serrated edges and a fragrance of apples. The flowers later give way to large red hips making it an attractive autumn feature too. This plant has a dense and thorny habit and lends itself well to hedging or for masking unwanted features. ... Learn More

This delicate, small suckering shrub boasts pretty, single, creamy-white flowers, up to 2 in. across (5 cm), in late spring to early summer. Sweetly scented, these are borne in profusion on prickly stems bearing handsome, fern-like foliage of bright green leaves that are composed of rounded, delicate leaflets. As an extra bonus, the blossoms are followed by sizeable, spherical, purplish-black fruits. Disease, salt and drought tolerant, this beautiful species rose is perfect as a groundcover or as a low hedge. A hardy, tough and reliable plant, it is extremely suitable for use on poor soil and ... Learn More

In late summer, from the centre of a stout growth of heavily corrugated dark green leaves, arise spikes of large, brilliant purple, orchid-like flowers with a white throat and slightly paler hood. These completely hardy, herbaceous relatives of the tropical gingers grow in the wild at great altitude in the eastern Himalayas, in Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal and Sikkim. RHS Trials gave them an AGM, and noted that they were "Good value plants that are vigorous and produce plenty of flowers over a long period." ... Learn More