Beesia - Cenolophium

Beesia calthifolia DJHC 98447 £4.50
Spreading clumps of cordate leaves, bronzy green as they emerge and becoming marbled as they age. Lots of little white flowers on 30cm+ stems in summer, rather like the related Actaea, but it's the foliage that makes it so special. Effective either in the woodland garden or a pot.
Begonia 'Benitochiba' £4.50
It's the foliage you want this for, palmate leaves with red-green major veins, metallic pink in between. A small rex type, but hardy-ish, coming through hard winters in pots in our unheated shade tunnel. Very late into growth.
Begonia boliviensis £4.50
Something to grow in a pot by the house or, as we do, in the conservatory. It arches out in all directions, with elegant bright orange flowers in summer. Store the tubers dryish but not necessarily frost free in winter. Impossible to miss.
Begonia aff. pedatifida £4
Rhizomatous woodlander for a sheltered spot. Leaves on upstanding red petioles, pink flowers in autumn. Takes for ever to get going in spring, but lovely by September. Regrettably, we've previously sold it as B. palmata, trusting the name we received it under. I'll work on it further at flowering time.
Bellevalia dubia £4
Diminutive muscari-relative. Light blue buds open milk chocolate with a cream edge. Spring.
Bellevalia tabriziana £3.50
One of the last spring bulbs to flower. The flowers flare like a bluebell, white with light blue tips, in an open bluebell-like inflorescence. 10-15cm tall, for sun. Just great.
Bergenia 'Bartok' £4
A good old Eric Smith plant, particularly good for its shiny but not flat, upwardly angled leaves, reddening well in cold weather. Red-pink flowers.
Bergenia 'Beethoven' £5
Densely packed white flowers with a fetching hint of pink. Another Smith composer.
Bergenia ciliata £5
Has hairy dinner plates for leaves; wonderful pale pink flowers in February. Pretty hardy, but hard frosts can mash the flowers, so choose a sheltered site.
Bergenia ciliata 'Wilton' £6
It's hairier, much hairier, soft and strokable, not bristly. Customers ask 'what's the difference?' until they feel it.
Bergenia emeiensis £4.50
A little sweetie from Western China, white flowers from pink calyces and small leaves. Compact and under 30cm in height.
Bergenia 'Overture' £4
Intense magenta flowers on red stems. The upwardly inclined leaves are excellent for winter colour - as always, exposure to cold and light intensifies this.
Bergenia pacumbis CC3616 £4
Related to ciliata; big shiny leaves edged with hairs and pink flowers very early in spring while the leaves are still small..
Bergenia purpurascens 'Irish Crimson' £5
Fantastically good upstanding foliage, as red as anything in winter. Nice deep red-purple nodding flowers. Not a fast runner.
Bergenia 'Pink Dragonfly' £4
A dinky little variety, with pink flowers disproportionately large. Pretty good for winter colour, too.
Bergenia 'Rosi Klose' £4
Very compact and free flowering, bright pink to 30cm.
Blechnum chilense £5
A very handsome large fern, evergreen with tough, glossy pinnate fronds. Bold and somewhat spreading, 1m or so in height. Hardy in southern and western areas, pretty good even in the Midlands, it seems, especially if mulched. Acidic or neutral soil.
Blechnum wattsii £6
A smaller (60cm) Australian counterpart of the previous fern, more definitely for shade, and much less grown so its hardiness is not well known - OK here.
Bletilla striata £4
An easy, large flowered, clump forming hardy orchid - what could be nicer? Bright green, pleated leaves and vivid pink flowers, dying back to tubers in winter. Recommended for humus rich partial shade, but can thrive in full sun or heavy soil.
Bletilla striata var. japonica f. gebina £4
And again, this time white flowered with a pink flush inside.
Bletilla Brigantes £4.50
Slightly more slender than its parent striata,  this vigorously spreading hybrid has both pink and yellow in the flower.
Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' £4
In this fine form the main veins of the leaves are picked out in silver. This effect lasts all year. Blue flowers. Protected by Plant Breeders Rights, unfortunately.
Brunnera macrophylla 'Looking Glass' £4
It's Jack again, but as the leaves expand the silver covers the surface. PBR again.
Bulbinella eburnifolia £4
One of the winter-growing Cape species, for unheated glass or very well drained bed. Slender leaves, creamy white flowers in a long spike at the end of winter.
Calanthe discolor £12
If you're new to these terrestrial orchids with broad, pleated leaves, this is one of the easiest species to start with. Starting into growth in spring, though never without leaves, the brownish flowers with paler lip are held on 30cm spikes. Do-able in a sheltered spot outside if you're clever, but easy and satisfactory in a pot under unheated glass.
Caltha 'Auengold' £4
The flowers of this marsh marigold are a particularly good golden yellow, on stems which stick out at an angle. The purple petioles, however, are what's really distinctive. As John Carter points out in his excellent article in The Plantsman (March 2008) this may not be the original plant of this name.
Caltha 'Honeydew' £5
A unique hybrid, raised in Sussex about 25 years ago. The flowers are a wonderful pale yellow, large on a hefty 75cm plant. The flower stems will root at the nodes, so try layering it as the flowers go over.
Campanula persicifolia 'Cornish Mist' £4
This recent pale lavender blue variety has a hearty constitution. Flowers early summer. Good species for cutting.
Campanula persicifolia large blue semi-double £4
Just that, very like the thing Bob Brown calls 'Blue Bloomers'.
Campanula 'Van-Houttei' £4
Very big, dark blue-purple flowers. A fine plant. 75cm or so.

Cardamine
We have small numbers of the following woodland species, mostly dormant until spring and best left in pots, watered, until well into growth.
Cardamine diphylla 'Eco Cut Leaf' £4
White-veined leaves, small white flowers
Cardamine quinquefolia £4
Kew/Washfield form which actually flowers well, lilac-pink, freely spreading and slugproof, it seems.
Cardamine raphanifolia £4
Big, bold, pink flowered, a beaut for the bog garden in spring.
Cardamine waldsteinii £4
Good sized white flowers, really nice low leaves.
Cardamine aff. diphylla £4
Special! A vigorous plant with well marked leaves which comes into growth in the autumn, unlike 'Eco Cut Leaf' and much stronger growing than the latter. White flowers in spring. Woodsy conditions. Thanks to Kevin Hughes.

Cardiocrinum giganteum red veined £5
You know the beast, with its rosettes of leaves getting bigger each year until eventually it blasts off, with white lilies hanging from neck-straining tall stems, leaving only small offsets and seed to repeat the cycle. This strain has particularly good red veins in the young foliage. Thanks to Kevin Hughes.
Carex grayi £4.50
The flower spikes look like maces (the weapon not the spice) and look rather spectacular from early May through to the summer. A broad leaved hardy sedge for ordinary conditions. Everyone seems to want it when we take them to early May plant sales (then we run out).
Cenolophium denudatum £5
An excellent umbellifer, with finely divided foliage and white umbels in summer. Best of all, it thrives in dry shade. Variable in height, but can reach 1m.