Geranium cinerium variety

Geranium sp.

Rhodohypoxis baueri and Hypoxis

Glaucium corniculatum

Phlox adsurgens' Wagon Wheels'

Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco'

Dianthus hybrid

Allium moly

Tulipa Sprengeri taken by Richard Massey in his garden

Richard Massey's Alstromeria in his alpine house

Iris chrysographes - a near black species with gold markings on the falls;  it flowers for about a day and there are only two flowers per stem so you have to be an enthusiast!!

Iris Pacific Coast Hybrid grown from Ghio's seed

Jeffersonia Dubia in David Barker's garden in Essex

Arisaema candidissimum growing in a tub under a Cytisus Battandieri.   It is meant to like a bit of sun, but good drainage is the most important thing.

Saxifraga Fortunei 'Cherry Pie'

The plant is small, the flowers are bright pink and abundant. The leaves are about 2 inches across and the flowers are ¾ inch in diameter and 3 inches high. It is growing in a sheltered trough facing north west.   It is available from Little Heath Farm Nursery.  

I received an added bonus with this plant, a tiny annual geranium which flowers and seeds very early before the saxifrage. It has bright red stems and leaves that turn red. As it comes up well before the saxifrage,  I was initially very confused as to what I had bought!

Peter Cullens

Suppliers of the new Saxifraga fortunei cultivars:

Many of the cultivars are larger than the above and could be more accurately described as hardy perennials.   There is an article on 'Saxifrages with longer-season appeal' in 'The Garden'  October 2003  p.752

Nomocharis pardanthina

Although this plant is normally about a metre high, it is a true alpine, coming as it does from the alpine meadows of Yunnan.   The flowers, 8 cm. across, are pale pink with purple spotting and are semi-pendant.   It is a plant that will supposedly only grow in Scotland, but it is growable in the South in shade with regular misting.   It is a plant with real star quality.   Bulbs are occasionally offered by specialist bulb firms, but it can with patience be grown from seed.

Richard Massey

Codonopsis Convolvulacea

In spring this plant sends up a threadlike climbing stem from a large underground tuber.   Open large blue flowers with a reddish inner ring appear in July.   It is easy to grow from seed obtainable from the AGS Seed Exchange.   The plant in the background  in the picture on the right is Oxalis chrysantha, which is hardy most years on a raised bed with the added protection of a wall.

Richard Massey

Pulsatilla alpina sulphurea

In the wild this plant with its ferny foliage and clear yellow flowers covers vast areas of the Alps.   However in cultivation it proves far more difficult to grow, needing a rich growing medium with good drainage.

Richard Massey

Helleborus Thibetanus was an almost unknown species until Mikinori Ogisu found it from clues in Pere David's diaries.   He found it in Moupin in Sichuan province;  120 years after Pere David's first found it.   

The bell shaped flowers are two to two and a half inches across.   The petals start white and fade to pink with dark veins and finally to green.  They flower in March in damp rocky clearings.   Seed arrived in Britain in 1991 and this plant was on Ashwoods  Nurseries' display in January 2000 at the RHS Horticultural Halls.

Helen Cullens

Ashwoods Nurseries, Greensforge, Kingswinford, West Midlands, DY6 0AE