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.
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.
Hippeastrum 'Toughie' £4
We have Bob Brown to thank for introducing this exciting plant from cultivation in New Zealand. It is hardy out of doors in Totnes, and reputedly much farther afield as well. A summer grower, with strongly purple tinted foliage. The flower spikes are on the scale of the familiar tender hippeastrums, although not as large as the grossest modern cultivars. The flowers are a deep rather smoky red, on purple tinged scapes. For a sunny, well drained, reasonably sheltered spot. Protect from slugs.
Hosta plantaginea var japonica £4.50
Big, pale green leaves and very large fragrant flowers in autumn.
Hosta venusta AGM £3.50
A tiny species, with clumps of bright green leaves just a few cm tall; lovely spikes of light violet flowers on 10-15cm stems. For partial shade, not dry. Needs a choice corner or pot to appreciate it properly. Arnold Schwarzenegger's favourite plant? Hosta venusta, baby.
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 namchabarwensis £3.50
Lovely blue flowers on a branching, soft green 30cm plant. A recent introduction from Tibet, which tends to die in colder gardens but reappears from late spring germinating seeds.
Impatiens omeiana clone 2 £5
Hardy, densely clumping, 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 uniflora £4.50
Pink flowers in late summer on a branching 20cm plant.
Inula oculus-christi £4.50
Big, beautiful, very very fine rayed deep yellow daisies in summer. Height only 50cm. My favourite species in this sometimes dull genus.
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 '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. Less hardy, lower growing and perhaps an unknown species.
Ipheion sellowianum £3.50
Yellow with a brown streak on the backs, in spring. Much shorter than the unidentified species. Protect from slugs, and all will be well.
Ipheion uniflorum 'Charlotte Bishop' £4
Pink, quite large flowers.
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 - we'll put a picture on the website so you can see for yourself. Thanks to Ian Hunt, National Collection holder.
Ipheion sp. £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.
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
Unlike anything else, unless you've seen the tender I. wattii which is even more extreme. 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 japonica 'Ledger' £4.50
Fans of evergreen leaves, with many smallish frilly white flowers in early spring. Height 45cm. For milder gardens or a pot with winter protection.
Iris japonica 'Variegata' AGM £4
A green and white, neatly variegated counterpart.
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 versicolor 'Mysterious Monique' £4
Useful species this, making lusty evergreen clumps in moister places. But so many names, so many feeble watery coloured forms. You have to choose carefully and learn from other peoples mistakes!. This one is great, with purple standards and style crests; falls darkest purple, yellow and white at base with heavy purple veining. Thanks to both Grace Officer and John Carter for independent recommendations.
Isopyrum nipponicum £3.50
We have a soft spot for Ranunculaceous freaks. This is a soft leaved woodlander, pale yellowy leaves purple tinted when young,  whose little flowers have a strange fleshy yellow corolla inside the purple calyx - for a parallel, think the reduced 'nectary' petals of hellebores. Very unlike I. thalictroides, but if you said it was I. ohwianum I wouldn't argue the toss. Seeds around amiably.
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.
Jaborosa integrifolia £4
A solanaceous runner which throws up big white soapily fragrant flowers at ground level among leathery dark leaves. South-of-England-hardy.
Jeffersonia diphylla £3.50
American woodlander with white flowers in spring and distinctive lobed foliage. Forms striking 40cm high clumps in Lady Ann's Garden at Rosemoor.
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.