Stunning starry, white-edged blue flowers March-June. Shorter than the above at 15cm but equally rewarding. H5. 1.5L pot. Read more
One of the best spring flowering perennials with deep, forget-me-not blue flowers on 30cm-tall sprays. Invaluable in shade. H5. 1.5L pot. Read more
Tall wands of violet-blue flowers in abundance over a long period with lots of characteristic aromatic fragrance. Reliable and easy to grow perennial. June-Oct. 1m. H7. 10cm pot. Read more
Variegated purple moor grass. This hardy deciduous grass forms a compact clump of arching yellow and cream vertically striped foliage. Inconspicuous yellowy brown flowers create a purple haze at the top of the neat tufts July-Oct. 60cm. H7. 10cm pot. Read more
Rather stiffer than subsp. arundinacea Transparent and darker. Excellent corner-piece. June-Oct, 2m. H7. 10cm pot. Read more
Like a diaphanous gauze, this well-named grass can be planted at the border’s margin, making a light veil for plantings behind it. June-Oct, 2m. H7. 10cm pot. Read more
An impressive monocarp with large evergreen, angelica-like leaves held on curiously nodded stems. Makes an impressive foliage plant before flowering with pink umbels in the spring. Dramatic in many ways including a superb winter skeleton on flowered plants. Perfect companion to Echium pininana as seen at the Chelsea Physic Garden. 1.5m. April/May. H6. 1.5L pot. Read more
The willow-leaved loosestrife is a clump-forming upright, stately perennial, waxy grey green all over, with sturdy stems holding elongated tapering, loose spikes of white flowers blushed rose in the centre. Good in moist heavy soils. JuneAug. 1m. H6. 10cm pot.. Read more
A vigorous (some would say invasive) rhizomatous perennial from China and Japan, otherwise known as Gooseneck Loosestrife. Graceful white-flowering racemes almost 20cm long have a gracefully crooked neck which bends the inflorescence down before it twists up again. Flowers mid to late summer. Comes from wet ravines and damp woodland margins as well as in lush grassland, easy to grow in cultivation on most rich soils. Hardy. 90cm. H6. 10cm pot. Read more
A purple-leaved loosestrife, offsetting pale yellow flowers far more effectively than can the greenleaved type-plant. Makes a colony. June-Sept. Perennial. 70cm. H6. Read more
The old herbaceous favourite with heads of vivid scarlet flowers. June/July. Perennial. 1m. H7. 10cm pot. Read more
Semi evergreen, medium-sized shrub with sweetly fragrant flowers during winter and early spring. 2-3m. H6. 1.5L pot. Read more