Wildlife Friendly

Collected at altitude in Japan and introduced in 2006, Polemonium yezoense 'Purple Rain' is one of the best new introductions in recent years. With bronze-purple lacy foliage, dark stems and violet-blue flowers, it is the darkest flower form of Polemonium available.

Prunella vulgaris is an interesting and quite beautiful little wildflower plant. The plants produce pretty blue-violet flowers in summer, the flowers freely produce nectar and are highly attractive to bees. If you’re looking for something to add to a meadow garden, or something for those shady areas this is the plant for you.

This attractive plant will be equally at home in the flower border or keeping company with the sage and thyme in your herb garden. Delightfully aromatic, the floral-peppermint scent is subtly different from other mints. Mountain mint is a great nectar plant, its honey is much sought after.

Reseda odorata is an ancient plant with a long recorded history. 'Mignonette' has captured the hearts of gardeners and poets for centuries. The flowers are intensely fragrant, with a sweet and spicy scent, they make a wonderful addition to floral arrangements, even dried, the flowers retain their fragrance for several months.

Salvia sclarea var. turkestanica 'Vatican White' is a choice white cultivar that is not that easy to find. A nobly architectural Sage, each of its branched stems is topped with a profusion of blossoms with brilliant white bracts. The flowers are attractive and are boosted in impact by the large petioles that surround them.

This hardy biennial Sage has been grown in almost every botanical sanctuary in human history and has many plus points: it grows well in poor soil resists slugs and other beasties, and doesn’t slump or need staking. It copes well in sun or light shade and the blooms are a magnet for bees and butterflies.

Cleanliness is next to godliness even in history. For centuries Saponaria officinalis has helped keep us clean while providing a little loveliness in our gardens. The flowers are an important nectar source and emit a pleasant and intriguing clove-like scent, seducing both night moths and butterfly species.

Boasting the most desirable of deep blue flowers, Scabiosa ‘Oxford Blue’ is a reselected form that stands out from other varieties, it boasts the most desirable of deep lavender-blue flowers. The large, domed, dark centred cushions with contrasting white 'pins', bob atop strong stems. A prodigious bloomer, they will supply you with excellent cut flowers.

One of the longest-flowering and most glamorous of flowers that you can grow from seed, Scabiosa 'Summer Fruits' is a fantastic, fruity blend of delicious colours including raspberry, plum and blackberry. For weekly inclusions in the vase keep the flowers cut to keep the production of flowers right throughout the season.

Scabiosa atropurpurea is one of the longest-flowering and most glamorous of flowers that you can grow from seed. Easy to grow and fast to flower, this invaluable plant will attract many butterflies and bees to the garden and the long, straight stems will supply you with cut flowers throughout the season.

A prodigious bloomer and a tough, hardy garden performer Scabiosa atropurpurea grows quickly and is fast to flower. Rose-pink petals surround a domed, dark centred cushion, this invaluable plant will attract many butterflies and bees to the garden and would look as happy in a wildflower meadow as in a manicured border.

This clump-forming plant produces pleasantly fragrant pincushion flowers when newly opened. Delicate white petals surround a domed, central cushion, and as the flowers mature, tiny white stamens emerge adding yet another beautiful detail. The flowers have the most delicious sweet perfume reminiscent of honey and marshmallows.

Scabiosa atropurpurea is one of the longest-flowering and most glamorous of flowers that you can grow from seed. 'Purple Black' produces deep, dark flowers that give a beautiful intensity to the garden or the vase. They bloom consistently and attract many butterflies and bees to the garden.

The papery bracts of Scabiosa stellata is an example of perfect geometry. A delicate geodesic sphere of translucent papery, cone shaped bracts adds a new shape to the garden. The everlasting seed heads make excellent cut flowers and are perfect for dried arrangements.

Our native Figwort is one of the most prolific nectar producers in the plant world, the long-lasting flowers attract more pollinators than any other plant around. The flowers, similar to tiny snapdragons ripen into egg-shaped seed pods, which are just the perfect bouquet filler for interest and movement!

Hugely impressive in any garden, Sedum telephium ‘Emperors Wave’ boasts succulent, blue-green foliage and masses of star-shaped flowers in glorious shades of deep pink and purple. They are popular with late season perennials and ornamental grasses. The extreme contrast in flower shape enhance each other, adding to the textures and colours of the late season garden.

Sedum ussuriense is at its best in late summer and through autumn, the blue-green succulent, rounded leaves are followed by a glowing display or carmine-red flower clusters. It even pleases the eye in winter when its seed heads turn into a stage for dew drops and ice crystals.

Setaria italica Red Jewel is a rarely-offered variety of annual grass with intensely coloured burgundy red foliage and dramatic foxtail-shaped flower heads. Suitable for growing in the garden or in containers the dark foliage is a great contrast in the garden or the vase.

This pretty little wildflower is a slow growing, long-lived plant with attractive spikes of rich pink-mauve flowers that are very attractive to bees and butterflies as a nectar source. The flowers, which rise from dark green crinkly leaves, keep their colour throughout summer and look stunning when growing en-masse.

Stokesia laevis is an easy to grow hardy perennial that produces generous quantities of long lasting flowers. Shaggy cornflower-like electric blue or purplish-blue flowerheads are borne generously in late summer. It is considered by many as one of the most attractive late-flowering perennials.