Drought Tolerant

Nemophila Pennie Black is a superb, easy to grow annual with masses of sumptuous deep purple to black, silver edged blooms produced on low ground hugging plants. Slightly trailing they are lovely in containers or used as an edging in bedding and borders.

Patrinia scabiosifolia has continued to languish in relative obscurity until very recently. Resembling a cross between achillea and the immensely popular Verbena bonariensis, it has all the requisite qualities, airy see-through grace, a strong branching structure, plus sheets of sparkling chrome-yellow flowers.

Russian Sage is one of the great garden plants of all time, but if you've been frustrated by their floppy nature, this new variety will be a welcome addition. Growing to about 60 to 75cm tall, Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Taiga' is also the first Russian sage available as a first year flowering perennial.

Persicaria orientalis goes by a common name so flamboyant that it’s worth growing just to be able to sprinkle its name into conversation. ‘Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate’ is an extraordinarily tall garden favourite. Growing up to 2 metres tall, the whole plant is spectacularly draped with long, dangling, velour-like cerise tassels.

Persicaria orientalis ‘Cerise Pearls’ is a new, modern-day variety that grows to a more manageable height of 100 to 140cm . Tall enough to give the same airy effect, yet so much easier to place in the garden. From August to October the whole plant is spectacularly draped with long, dangling, velour-like cerise tassels.

With their arching, strappy, sword-shaped leaves, Phormiums make a dramatic statement in the garden. They are versatile evergreen plants that tolerate a range of conditions and look at home in a variety of different planting schemes.

Potentilla 'Helen Jane' is a beautiful new semi-dwarf cultivar that displays gorgeous crimson-eyed, bright pink flowers, with petals that are attractively crinkled just like crepe paper. Flowering over a long period, new buds open repeatedly in a long succession, from late June to September.

Venerating a former plant curator at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, Scotland, 'Ron McBeath' is a beautiful new semi-dwarf cultivar. This diminutive potentilla repeat-flowers for months, sending up wands of rosy carmine flowers even in shade. It outlasts other potentillas by far.

Rosularia is a rosette forming succulent that closely resemble other Crassulaceae such as Sempervivum and Echeveria. It distinguishes itself in spring time when the small green clusters change to a vibrant rich reddish tone. Rare yet hardy, they are seldom seen other than in specialist nurseries or rock garden collections.

Sagina subulata is one of the best low growing ground covers. Irish moss is most often used as a ground cover, softening paths and stepping-stones. It gives a lush accent to rock garden and terraces. For a luxurious carpet of green, few plants can match Irish Moss.

Salvia farinacea ‘Fairy Queen’ is an attractive new variety that bears multiple spikes of bicolour blue and white flowers on dark distinctive flower stems from June to October. With a bushy, compact habit and thick stems. A small white spot on each sapphire blue flower creates the illusion of fairy dust.

Salvia patens is undoubtedly one of the very best blue flowering plants, the large, double-lipped blossoms are one of the truest blues found in nature. 'Blue Angel' is one of the smallest of the 'Gentian Sages', there is little else that can compete with the richness of its colour.

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 lilac-white blossoms and 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.