Sansevieria, the Snake plant, also known popularly as 'mother-in-Law's tongue' is one of the most unusual yet easily recognisable houseplants you can buy! Sansevieria zeylanica differs from the usual mother-in-law's tongue in having grey-green and silver foliage instead of the more common green and yellow of Sansevieria trifasciata. It's a stunning, upright architectural plant that makes an instant statement. The long sword-like, variegated leaves really do look like snakeskin and this houseplant is incredibly adaptable to a wide range of conditions, making it amazingly easy to grow and look after. It'll grow happily in bright light or shade, and is even tolerant of drought, so a little neglect won't bother it, making this the perfect houseplant. Not only spectacular to look at, Sansevieria are amongst the best plants for improve the environment in our homes by clearing the air, removing toxins and adding valuable oxygen to the air that we breathe. Supplied as a potted plant in a 14cm nursery pot, growing to a height of 1.2m (4ft) and width of 50cm (20in).
'Midwinter Fire', is stunning with its vibrant flame-coloured stems. It's great for bees and butterflies too, which are attracted to the dainty white flowers. Widely grown as ornamental plants, dogwoods are a subtle, underestimated garden staple which come into their own when their leaves change colour in a glorious display in autumn, falling to reveal the glowing branches so prized by gardeners. Fully winter hardy, dogwoods are a popular shrub for any garden or even a large container as they are fairly unfussy and are both easy to grow and low maintenance, with a long season of interest - all year round! Supplied as 3 x established plants in 9cm pots, ready to plant out. Growing to a height and spread of 2m (6ft), flowering white May - June
With its showy pale flowers that open from dark purple buds in autumn, Tricyrtis or the 'toad lily' provides bags of late season interest for any part of the garden in light or even full shade. Held aloft on wiry 50cm tall stems, the star-shaped flowers are attractively spotted purple, and rise above clumps of glossy, heavily grooved green leaves. This perennial thrives when planted in damp, moisture-retentive soil and is suitable for growing in shady borders, woodland gardens, under shrubs or in soil close to the pond. It deserves to be planted somewhere such that the intricate flowers can be viwed up close and also makes a lovely cut flower and will do well also in a container. Despite possessing exotic-looking blooms, the toad lily is as tough as old boots although if you live in a cold part of the country or have an exposed garden, it's best to cover plants with a thick mulch over winter. Supplied as 3 x established plants in 9cm pots, ready for planting out.
Crossandra infundibuliformis 'Fortuna' is prized for making flower garlands in its native homes of Sri Lanka and Southern India. This variety has been developed to produce a particularly good display of peachy-orange flowers, blooms for months on end.
Lilies are one of the most graceful and beautiful of the garden bulbs and this compact form is no exception. A Formosa-type lily with narrow leaves on upright stems, it will produce 1-3 extremely fragrant flowers per plant and will fill your garden with exotic perfume. Short and strong enough to grow in pots, yet tall enough to cut flowers each summer, this lily is versatile, reliable and very hardy. Plant en masse in large pots or in groups for maximum impact, or maybe just dot them round your garden to brighten up drab spots. A little later flowering than other types, once the plants have matured, you can expect blooms at any time from July into September from its sturdy stems. Quick to mature, they'll return year after year, getting bigger and bigger, plus they can seed around so you'll get plenty of new plants when they do so. Great value, easy to grow and truly stunning, they're worth a place in any garden.Supplied as a pack of 6 jumbo plug plants, ready for immediate planting.
If you would like to grow your own tall, strong stems of cut flowers, for harvest late this summer and in to the autumn months these are the perfect plants to grow. They will flower from August and into October, with each plant giving you approximately 5-6 stems for cut flowers. They are ready to pick as soon as the first few flowers Break Bud, which means start to show some colour when they get to this stage, cut the stems quite low down, around 15cm (6') from the ground level, and remove the lower leaves from the cut stems prior to plunging them in to a tall vase of cold water. As an indoor display, they will last at least 2 weeks, but do change the water every few days as this keeps them in the best possible condition. When grown exclusively as a border plant, give them some support with a bamboo cane and position them towards the back of a border where they will brighten your garden just when so many other plants are coming to the end of their season.
Through autumn and into early winter, these Asters just keep on flowering, making sure the garden stays glorious with a splash of dusky pink. Chrysanthemum x hortorum 'Anastasia' is a neat little plant, perfect for the border or a container on the patio where it looks good teamed up with Ivy, Heuchera and other foliage plants. Cut a few sprays for colour indoors: these Chrysanthemums make a great cut flower too. Height 60cm (24). Spread 60cm (24).
Santolina chamaecyparissus is an tough-as-old-boots small shrub that has silvery fernlike foliage with an unmissable citrus yellow button flower on the top of each and every stem during the summer. The silver foliage is present all year round to highlight the garden on dull winter days and as Santolina is plant that is drought tolerant and will thrive on neglect it's possibly the ideal plant for somone that is too busy to micro-manage their garden. Cotton Lavender is a dwarf, evergreen shrub for any part of the garden. An excellent choice for Mediterranean themes, gravel gardens or patio containers. Height: 50cm (20). Spread: 100cm (39).
Begonia ?Santa Barbara? is perfectly designed for your patio! Clean, white pendulous blooms hang from gently trailing stems that spill from hanging baskets and containers.
An absolute gem of a winter flowering plant, little seen but a really good winter garden plant, not grown widely enough. In late winter and early spring, before there's much colour about at all, even before daffodils, it produces intriguing yellow and cream flowers, lightly scented, smothered over bare stems, as flowers are produced before the leaves. It is a relative of the Daphne, sharing it's preference for cool, lightly shaded spots. Martin distinctly remembers being blown away by the first sight and smell of this plant, a large specimen on a remote Dutch Nursery, on a wet, windy and grey February afternoon, but finding much stock has been a challenge. Now we have some, it deserves a space in many gardens.
Pachysandra terminalis 'Green Carpet' has lush foliage, which makes for unbeatable groundcover in shaded, woodland areas. In addition to adding a splash of greenery to otherwise unremarkable areas, planting this hardy perennial has the added bonus of preventing the growth of weeds. Instead of worrying about weeding, gardeners can admire the understated spikes of white flowers that appear in June - far preferable to nettles, thistles or dandelions! Height: 15cm (6). Spread: 1m (3'3).