Omphalodes - Podophyllum

Omphalodes cappadocica 'Parisian Skies' £3.25 / £3.75
Hearty, floriferous clumper, with sky blue flowers in this form.

Omphalodes cappadocica 'Starry Eyes' £3 / £3.50
,A white edge to the blue flower makes it stand out well in a shady place.

Ompahalodes verna and Omphalodes verna alba £3 / £3.50
Blue and white flowered forms of the classic woodland groundcover. Bare rooted chunks, lifted to order. Do specify which you want!

Ophiopogon - all £3 / £3.50
There's more to this genus than black leaves! Here are two very different variegated varieties. O. planiscapus 'Little Tabby' has the broad leaves of the black thing, but heavily striped lengthwise in dark green and cream. Easy, and much in demand. O.japonicus 'Nanus Variegatus' is dwarfer, with very narrow leaves heavily striped white, with short spikes of lilac flowers. Very unusual, for well drained soil in the rock garden, sink or pots. Then without variegation, with dense clumps of dark green leaves and attractive, downturned purple flowers is an Unidentified Species ( a knowledgeable customer told us why it isn't japonicus, but wasn't certain what it is). And if you did want the black leaved O.p. 'Nigrescens', I'm sure we could find you one.

Orthrosanthus multiflorus £3.25 / £4.50
Southern irid with a succession of sky blue flowers on stems to 50cm in summer, needing a well-drained, sunny position outside in favoured spots, or the cool conservatory.

Oxalis oregana £3 / £3.50
No dangerous pinging seeds or ineradicable bulbils here. It's a quietly spreading American woodlander with softly hairy leaves and (in this form) dusky pink flowers. Useful for moister shade even on heavy soils.

Paeonia emodi £8
The white flowered herbaceous Himalayan classic, always in short supply. 'A most gracious spring flower' writes GST. Plant it with its feet in shade, as at Edinburgh Botanics. A few divisions to spare (actually we want to keep them ALL, but you have to live...)

Paeonia mlokosewitschii AGM £5
Divisions of the classic pale yellow herbaceous paeony.

Paesia scaberula  £3.25 / £3.75
Creepy little fern with finely divided leaves. For a woodsy bed. A good clump of newly expanded fronds looks fantastic. Hardy except in really cold districts.

Panicum virgatum 'Dallas Blues' £3.75 / £4.50
A fine bold blue leaved selection of this North American grass. Broader in leaf than 'Praire Sky', taller too, up to 2m in the right conditions. Big purplish panicles. Full sun. We could also offer you P. v. 'Warrior', green leaved with red tinted inflorescences, to 1.8m.

Papaver orientale 'Beauty of Livermere' £3.75 / £4.50
Tall, with bright red flowers backed by leaf-like bracts. Terribly impressive.

Papaver orientale cultivars in brief - this doesn't mean they're not good ones - all £3 / £4. 'Fatima' - pink and white, rather frilly flowers. 'Leuchtfeuer' AGM - glowing orange with a hint of pink, compact. 'Karine' AGM - very compact, shallow bowl-shaped light salmon pink. 'Patty's Plum' - bulky, floriferous, indescribable purple/brown/red colour - now it's no longer the in thing you can plant it only when you have the perfect place for it... 'Pinnacle' - white fringed orange. 'Raspberry Queen' - Bob Brown summed it up as 'Barbara Cartland with running mascara'.

Papaver Super Poppy series £3.25 / £4.50
American hybrids of, supposedly, complex parentage. In horticultural terms I'd sum them up as oriental poppies with thicker, tougher, glossy petals which means the flowers last quite a lot longer. This is a very good feature. We can offer you:  'Jacinth'  (glossy red-pink), 'Medallion' (purple pink, rather Patty's Plum-ish - for pics see 'The Hardy Plant', Spring 06, p36-7) and 'Tequila Sunrise' (rather frilly pinky orange - pic p1 of the same).

Paradisea lusitanica £3.25 / £4.50
Fine upstanding spikes of good sized, pure white, flared trumpet shaped flowers in early summer. Good fertile garden soil in sun or part shade. Height approaches 1m with us.

Patrinia scabiosifolia £3 / £4
Tall species for the border, with nice pinnate leaves and bright yellow flowers. Usefully late flowering.

Pelargonium 'Renate Parsley' £3.25 / £3.75
Long-flowering ovale hybrid, with ovate grey leaves and small bicoloured flowers, the upper petals deep red, the lower pale pink. Much easier from cuttings than others of this type, important for us and you, since you'll want to root cuttings as an insurance and to refresh the plant every few years.

Pelargonium rodneyanum  £3.25 / £3.75
Tuberous pelargoniums have a tricksy reputation, but this Aussie is perfectly easy, and hardy with us. Low and a bit spready, with lots of bright purple-pink flowers over a long summer season. Strangely uncommon.

Peltoboykinia watanabei £3.25 / £3.75
Deeply lobed, shining green peltate leaves up to 30cm across; creamy flower spikes; height around 40cm. A handsome foliage plant for a cool, moist position. A rare Japanese member of the Saxifragaceae.

Pennisetum orientale 'Robusta' £3 / £4
A notably taller form of this pretty grass, with upright pink-tinged bottlebrush flower spikes.

Penstemon smallii £3.25 / £3.75
A smart species with big, toothed leaves, with a brownish tint much of the time, and lilac flowers. 40cm.

Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Inverleith' £3 / £4
A short (75cm), compact and very well behaved form of this sometimes overbearing species. Short spikes of dark red flowers, handsome dark green foliage.

Persicaria bistorta 'Hohe Tatra' £3 / £3.50
A smart, very bright pink, relatively short form of another variable species; again, it does not seem as thuggish as many.

Persicaria polymorpha £3.25 / £4.50
The best of the tall white species, we reckon. Big panicles of white flowers, ageing pinkish. Can reach 2m when established. It does not run (honest, guv!), and is not picky about soil. Few.

Petasites paradoxus £3.25 / £3.75
As a rule, never trust a butterbur if you've less than half an acre to plant it in. This is a true exception, and beautiful to boot. Dense clumps of silvery foliage to 40cm. Small heads of gently fragrant flowers in late winter, before the new leaves.

Petrocosmea kerrii £3.50 / £5 FROM SPRING 09
A growable and desirable rosette forming gesneriad from the Far East. The leaves are light green, plump, almost fleshy, rounded, and densely covered with long soft hairs. The flowers are big and pure white, in late spring. Not terribly hardy, ideal for the shady alpine house or very mild woodland garden. An important Wynn-Jones introduction. The genus is quite close to Saintpaulia.

Peucedanum ostruthium 'Daphnis' £3.25 / £3.75
If you've ever been tempted by that variegated ground elder, but fear for the safety of your garden, this look-alike is the plant for you. Neat, bright, yellow variegated low growing foliage forms a gently spreading clump. The hogweedy flower heads on 40cm stems are rarely produced, in our experience, which makes it even better…

Phaedranassa carmiolii £3.50 / £5
A Peruvian amaryllid for a pot, summer growing with tubular red / green bicoloured flowers on 50cm stems. Dryish dormancy.

Phlox glaberrima 'Morris Berd' £3.25 / £3.75
A nice bushy herbaceous thing, with big pink flowers all over, rather than on top of the clump. Horticulturally, it's 'Bill Baker' with bigger flowers. From the USA.

Phlox paniculata cultivars

'Blue Paradise' (£3 / £4) is the bluest we know, a luscious colour in cool, moist weather; around 60cm. 'Mary Christine' (£3.25 / £3.75) is perhaps the scarcest of the variegated cultivars, tricksy to propagate and rarely seen. It has a clean white variegation with good sized pink flowers, much like the colour of the old indestructable passed on from one cottage garden to the next. The variegation varies a little from shoot to shoot, although is far from random; reversions are occasionally seen and should be removed. We gave our original plant to Sarah's Mum quite a few years ago, and she has come to think very highly of it. Thanks to Beeches Nursery and Kevin's turbocharged plantsmanship. 'Monica Lynden-Bell' (£3 / £3.50)  is very pale pink from dark buds, and is shorter than some, around 60cm. 'Tenor' (£3 / £3.50) has deep salmon flowers, with leaves flushed purple in spring. 'Utopia'(£3 / £3.50) is really tall - 1.5m and self-supporting in Sarah's mum's garden, with very pale pink flowers again; not often seen. All have the classic summer evening fragrance.

Phyteuma scheuzeri £3 / £3.50
Lovely fine leaved Campanula relative with round heads of deep blue flowers. Great for rock garden, trough or well drained front of border.

Phyteuma spicatum £3.25 / £3.75
Quite different, with a dense cylindrical spike of creamy flowers on upright 60cm stems. A rare Wealden native - my father knew it in his youth and referred to it as the 'Pride of Sussex'.

Pimpinella major 'Rosea' £3 / £3.50
Here, however, it's the clean pink flowers which are memorable. 1m or so in flower, but delicate. Easy.

Pinellia pedatisecta £3.25 / £3.75
Pretty summer growing Asiatic aroid. Slender soft greeny yellow spathes to 30cm in early summer. Not a dangerous bulbil maker! Shade.

Plectranthus excisus £3 / £4
Forget the look of the tender species, and think of this as a hardy Coleus. The leaves are interesting - some gremlin has bitten the tip off each and replaced it with one that's too small. Dies down completely in winter.

Podophyllum peltatum £4
North America's May Apple is an attractive, slowly clumping woodland perennial, with pairs of smart peltate (that's umbrella-ish, crudely) leaves and a waxy white flower in the axil.

Podophyllum pleianthum £5 / £7
Perhaps the most satisfactory garden plant of the rather more exotic Asiatic species. Striking hexagonal leaves are apple green, and the nodding flowers are dark red and clustered, tho' a little smelly. Good woodsy conditions.