Whether you've always dabbled a bit in the garden but not been bitten by the bug before, or are completely new to gardening it can be a bit difficult to know where to start when you see the range and variety of plants we offer. So, this collection of plants will give you a smaller, easier to browse starting point - a "safe zone" if you like.
Tough, reliable, long lasting and garden worthy
All of the plants included here are generally easy going as long as you get the basics right, so if it says it needs Sun don't expect it to thrive in a dark corner behind your shed, and vice versa. Equally bear in mind that most plants are tolerant of being slightly out of their comfort zone so many sun lovers will be fine if they get a bit of shade for some of the day for example.
If in doubt feel free to ask us for help! Contact Us
One of the reasons I started the nursery back in 1996 was to get a wider range of less common, new, unusual and outright rare plants to a wider audience and hopefully this selection will continue that aim. Just because you've never heard of it, can't spell it or don't know how to say it doesn't mean that you can't grow it!
Oh, and just because something isn't listed here doesn't mean it isn't worth trying...
Beautiful creamy variegated arching foliage on this evergreen perennial for good to wet soil in at least some shade. Really tough but best out of cold winds. 25cm.
A delightful low growing species producing glowing purple flowers in pendent clusters in spring and early summer. Makes neat clumps of grassy leaves, the flowers slightly taller to 20cm. Drained soil in full sun.
Tufts of glossy, rich, green foliage and flowering stems to 1.2m. Upright plumes start pinkish in early autumn and fade to silvery buff. Good in winter.
A compact form with sword-like foliage and sprays of red buds that open to light red flowers fading pinkish - better than it sounds! 60cm. Drained soil in full sun.
[=Venus?] A lovely neat plant with red buds opening to reveal golden yellow flowers often with red tips to 60cm. Drained good soil in sun. Some doubt about the name!
The classic autumn flowered hardy Cyclamen with pink flowers and broadly triangular leaves with silver-grey markings. Foliage and flower colour vary. 10cm.
AGM This brilliant hybrid from Cambridge Botanic Garden has intense blue flowers with white centres from May to July and September onwards. Open position in average soil. 60cm x 90cm. Named after a street in Cambridge.
Unnamed seedlings from our range of cultivars of this valuable cranesbill for shade, even quite dry. Likely to be lilac-pink maybe with purple markings. c. 30cm.
Deep pink flowers from late spring to early summer over a low spreading carpet of evergreen leaves, use around medium-sized perennials or grasses. Any drained soil in sun or light shade, 20cm
What a name! But what a plant! Starts flowering in spring and is often still going in late autumn. Small bright yellow flowers in grassy foliage to 40cm. Best in sun, average soil.
Very pretty mats of cream and pink variegated foliage, very soft to the touch. Dainty flowers in summer. Average to dry soil in sun or part shade. 30cm.
The humble hyssop may be overlooked as an ornamental but it makes excellent companions for smaller grasses like Stipa tenuissima and likes the same drained sunny position. Blue flowers in summer to 30cm.
Aromatic clumps of upright stems topped with slender spires of deep blue flowers from early summer to autumn. Rarely white. Well drained soil in full sun. 50cm.
AGM Splendid flaming spikes of bright coral-orange buds that don't fade as they open until they are going over giving a small cream section at the base of the head. Sun, drained soil. 1m.
A compact form of "zebra grass" with pale yellow bands across mid green leaves on stems to 1.5m. Silken golden flowers produced in autumn in a warm site.
Bright cheerful cowslips for early spring flowers that carry on for several weeks. This subspecies beeing larger and more robust than the normal one. 40cm.
A very pretty form with denim blue flowers in big purple bracted spikes giving a good show long after each flower has fallen. Makes a fairly big clump in time to 30cm high. Ordinary soil in sun.
