If you're looking for a plant a little more out of the ordinary, then the Erythronium, or Dog's Tooth Violet, fits the bill magically. Best flowering in partial shade, they thrive in a woodland setting, under shrubs or deciduous trees where their beautiful, nodding star-shaped flowers hang daintily above their delightful marbled foliage. Erythroniums flower from March to April, dying down by June, so they can be grown under deciduous trees that come into leaf from late spring, preferring summer shade and fertile, humus-rich soil that is neither too wet nor too dry. Their common name refers to the shape of the bulbs with resemble canine teeth and which are easily damaged and often break if disturbed, so take care if you're moving them - in fact they're better off left alone where they will happily multiply, gradually forming a large clump. This wonderful variety provides the brightest yellow flowers, each flower stem carrying 4 to 5 large canary yellow blooms, each with a brown ring in the centre. The marbled foliage on this variety is a lovely added bonus! Height 20cm (8 in). Supplied as a pack of 5 bulbs, ready to plant out in autumn. Growing to a height of 25cm and width of 15cm.
Spring flowering Erythronium californicum 'White Beauty' is a hardy herbaceous perennial with deciduous, mottled green foliage with silver threading and bare stems that each produce one or more nodding, star-shaped, creamy-white flowers.
Add a pop of purple to your beds, borders and containers with hardy perennial Erythronium dens-canis 'Purple King'.