Herbertia - Kalimeris

Herbertia lahue £3.50
A cheery little iridaceous corm from Argentina, with bright violet flowers. Grown in pots with minimal protection, so far. Bulks up well.
Hesperantha coccinea
For too long languishing in the botanical irrelevance of Schizostylis, this most familiar late-summer flowering species, relishing reasonably moist ground, is back with its close relatives. Several forms this year:
Hesperantha coccinea 'Ballyrogan Giant' £4.50
Large, mid-pink flowers. Raised at Ballyrogan Gardens, Co. Down. I strongly suspect it's named for one of Finn MacCool's offspring whose supposed grave is near there, but I'm sure Gary Dunlop would tell you the story.
Hesperantha coccinea palest pink £4.50
In the search for a really excellent white, we've acquired all sorts of things which don't quite make it. This one (a Kevin Marsh special) is excellent, absolutely not white, but a well formed delicate pastel pink, with plenty of substantial flowers.
Hesperantha coccinea 'Snow Maiden' £4.50
Rather small white flowers, but they're not really starry like alba, and are a good opaque white. Thanks to the late Bob Mousley.
Heuchera americana 'Harry Hay' £5
A gigantic plant, forming a dome of purple foliage more than 50cm high and topping 1m in flower. Impressive. Selected by the man himself.
Hosta sp. AGSJ302 £4.50
Really tall (to 1.4m) stems of many (30-40 per stem) good sized flowers in a shade of violet which, by Hosta standards, is really deep. Planted in a moist fertile bed, in flower with candelabra primulas and Anemone rivularis, a well established clump is a real treat for us. Undistinguished yellowy green foliage, but who cares - something this tall needs planting well back in the bed.
summer. Not hardy but easy in a pot with dryish winter dormancy. Be good and keep the slugs off it, won't you.
Impatiens arguta £4
A 30cm tall species with good-sized lilac-blue flowers over a long season. No evidence of dangerous seeding tendencies. Mild position, or replaced annually from summer cuttings (easy).
Impatiens omeiana clone 1 £5
Hardy, densely clumping by rhizomes. The original form in British gardens, with silver veined green leaves and peachy flowers in late summer..
Impatiens omeiana clone 2 £5
Pale uniformly silvered leaves and yellow flowers.
Impatiens sp. DJHC 98415 £4
A little smaller, rhizomatous, with pretty pink flowers at the end of summer.
Impatiens puberula HWJK 2063 £4
A Hinkley / Wynn-Jones collection from E. Nepal whose good sized purple flowers have white spurs. Spreading. 20cm.
Impatiens stenanthera £4
Bushy little thing with mustard yellow flowers in late spring and summer, over dark green leaves and red stems. Hardy at chilly Rosemoor (not sure I would be).
Impatiens uniflora £4.50
Pink flowers in late summer on a branching 20cm plant, which quickly makes a decent clump.
Ipheion 'Alberto Castillo' £4
Very large, pure white flowered form of this well known clumping bulb for a sunny site. Found in an old garden in Buenos Aires by its namesake. The species of lpheion and Tristagma (which arguably should be a single genus) are poorly known and deserve more attention from gardeners and botanists.
Ipheion hirtellum £4
An exciting winter grower which increases very slowly. Solitary goblet shaped buttercup yellow flowers on 10-15cm stems in winter, narrow green leaves from almost spherical small bulbs. We grow it in pots with a little winter protection.  Previously listed as an unidentified species.
Ipheion 'Jessie' £4
As prolific and hardy as uniflorum, but with almost as good a blue flower as Rolf.
Ipheion 'Rolf Fiedler' £3.50
An intense blue with rather rounded flowers. Much less hardy, lower growing and perhaps an undescribed species.
Ipheion sellowianum £3.50
Yellow with a brown streak on the backs, in spring. Much shorter than hirtellum. Protect from slugs, and all will be well.
Ipheion sessile £3.50
Stemless white flowers, dark veined on the backs, over a long winter / early spring season. Probably best in a pot. Winter growing. Thanks to Ian Hunt, National Collection holder.
Ipheion uniflorum 'Charlotte Bishop' £4
The classic species, but with dusky pink, quite large flowers, from early spring.
Ipheion uniflorum ssp. tandiliense £4
Basically white, with a lilac tinge and vein, it's hard to say why this form is so very good. It has poise, something about the way it holds the flowers well above the tidy leaves.

Iris chrysographes black form £4
Beautifully shaped flowers on delicate 50cm stems over dense tufts of leaves in early summer; sun lovers. So dark a purple it looks black.
Iris confusa 'Martyn Rix' £5
Bamboo like stems to 1m topped by fans of pale green leaves, with branched inflorescences of many flat faced clear blue flowers. Grow it in a shady spot in moist soil; cut out the flowered stems after the flowers finish in early summer. Forms a biggish clump, so give it space somewhere it will blend into the scenery until flowering time.
Iris confusa hybrids £5
Stoutly clump forming cane formers around 70cm tall, with frilly yellow marked flowers of palest blue, we have two similar plants which came to us labelled with rather dubious parentages which we won't repeat here. In colder gardens, the flowers get frosted. You get nice big potsful.
Iris ensata 'Iso-no-nami' £4.50
Unlike some of the Japanese water irises, the light purple, neatly yellow-marked flowers, have exquisite form. The falls hang just so, and are not crumpled at all. Easy and floriferous in moister or wet soil, in sun. 1m.
Iris fulva £4.50
Flower colour a highly unusual terracotta. One of the easiest Louisiana Irises, needing a rich moist soil, in a warm sunny spot. They have fat creeping rhizomes just at ground level, much like the bearded irises but further spreading and vigorously clumping when suited. Best avoided in very cold areas. Height 50cm in flower.
Iris blue Louisiana hybrid £5
Scandalously out of order, to keep it with its relatives. Large flowers of a marvellous intense blue - some people might call it violet-blue but I definitely don't. Flowers freely every year for us. Thanks to Prof. Dick, who obtained it years ago in Iris Society circles.
Iris histriodes 'Major' £3.50
One of the early spring (winter, really) flowering bulbous sorts, with flowers of a very deep blue, marked white. A lovely thing which cheers us up when we come upon it on a miserable winter day.
Iris laevigata 'Monstrosa' £5
One of those big wet-growing irises in which the standards develop as 3 extra falls, heavily violet freckled,  merging to make a solid patch near the tip, on a white ground.
Iris x robusta 'Gerald Darby' £5
A stout clumper with striking purple bases to the leaves and nicely formed violet flowers on 1m+ stems. For moister (or downright wet) soils, in sun.
Iris (Hermodactylus) tuberosa £3.50
The tuberous Mediterranean classic, dormant in summer, with 'chocolate lime' flowers in spring. Sun, drainage. Back with its relatives after a spell in monotypic purdah.
Iris versicolor 'Mysterious Monique' £4.50
Useful species this, making lusty evergreen clumps in moister places, but variable, so pick your variety well.  This one is great, with purple standards and style crests; falls darkest purple, yellow and white at base with heavy purple veining.

Iris Dwarf Bearded Varieties (all £4)
We've little time for tall or intermediate bearded iris (sorry, no offence, they're just not to our taste) but find that the dwarfs somehow do it for us. Even those with horizontal falls, to which I'd give a very old-fashioned look if taller, do their stuff when viewed from above. I long believed that Graham Stuart Thomas once wrote of them as 'garden toys', but after extensive searching came to the conclusion that this was just wishful thinking. None take up as much space as a climbing frame.
Iris 'Blue Line' AGM £4
Dwarf Bearded.Tissuey grey-white with a light blue beard.
Iris 'Cherry Garden' £4
Dwarf Bearded. Intense red-purple self.
Iris 'Frosty Crown' £4
Dwarf Bearded. Yellow falls, white standards.
Iris 'Little Blackfoot' £4
Dwarf Bearded. Deep purple falls with blue beard, lighter standards.
Iris 'Picadee' £4
Dwarf Bearded. White with violet-blue edging and veining, slight on falls, heavy on standards.

Ixia viridiflora £4
This is the Ixia you want... Good sized turquoise flowers with a maroon basal blotch in May, on upright (not top-heavy) spikes. Plenty of them too, not 2 or 3 on top of a long wispy stem. Winter growing, ideal for a pot in the unheated or greenhouse or alpine house, needing a dry summer dormancy. An absolute classic, but too rarely seen.
Kalimeris mongolica £5
A real beauty in a weedy, often thuggish genus, this has big neat astery heads in a clear lilac, facing the sky on top of erect, self supporting stems to 1.2 m or so. Makes a decent clump of interesting, pinnately lobed leaves in a sunny spot, flowering in late summer.