Sauromatum - Symphytum

Sauromatum venosum £4.50
Bold, arisaema-like aroid. Very late into growth. Bold leaves with 9 leaflets, pale green petioles splodged purple. Long, horizontal, spotty spathes before the leaves in spring. Smells of a long-dead animal eaten then vomited by a dog. Can be hardy if mulched well. Very embarrassingly, previously sold as Amorphophallus bulbifer .
Saxifraga fortunei 'Black Ruby' £4
Dark, almost black foliage; red-pink flowers in autumn. Height 20cm, for moist soil in shade.
Saxifraga fortunei 'Mount Nachi' £4
Another nice form, with bronzed foliage, brown even, and good sized inflorescences of contrasting white flowers.
Saxifraga fortunei 'Wada' £4
Larger copper tinted leaves, and taller in flower, reaching 50cm.
Saxifraga epiphylla 'Little Piggy' £3.75
Small dense rosettes of peculiarly thick, stiff, dark green, kidney shaped leaves which are spectacularly red veined underneath, requiring some effort to admire them since they are very close to the ground. Tiny plantlets are produced where the leaf lamina meets the petiole. The white flowers have ridiculously elongated lower petals. For a cool safe place in a humusy soil. Decidedly odd, but very attractive to those of us who are prepared to look closely.
Saxifraga nipponica 'Pink Pagoda' £4
Evergreen hairy leaves in low mounds. Lots of  pink flowers in 30cm inflorescences. For moister shade.
Scabiosa farinosa £4
This sub-shrubby species has splendid thick, glossy dark green leaves, and forms a dense, low dome. Pale lavender blue flower heads are carried on short stems. Cuttings or seed are easy if after a few years it gets a bit twiggy. Unlike anything else we know, we've had it for 20 years and would not be without it.
Schizostylis 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.
Schizostylis coccinea alba good form £4.50
We'd really like to thank the several people who've sent us their best white forms. This is, to us, the best we've seen. While the flowers are more starry (i.e. with narrower tepals) than some of the best pinks, they are much larger and more impressive than the sorts one usually sees. Also, it seems to get rust less readily than most. Thanks to Rob Senior for this good plant.
Scilla autumnalis £3.50
Our native, violet flowered Autumn Squill. From cultivated stock originating on the South Devon coast. Flowers in high summer here. For rock garden etc where it seeds around benignly.
Scilla hohenackeri BSBE 811 £3.50
30cm winter grower with impressive puplish blue flowers in early spring. Makes a good clump. Hardy, from Kurdistan.
Scilla lingulata S&F253 £3.50
The 10cm spikes of light blue flowers emerge with, not before the rosette of tongue shaped leaves, in September. A tightly clumping bulb. Leave in one pot for several years - a good dense colony looks a treat.
Scilla persica £3.50
Lots of small soft blue flowers in a big airy spike to 30cm tall. More delicate than the imposing heads of peruviana, but still one of the large species.

Scilla peruviana
At long last we have several clones to offer from our large (too large Sarah tells me) collection of this variable Iberian / North African species. This is a large, winter growing, more-or-less summer dormant bulb, hardy in a sunny place which dries out in summer. Flowers are many, in large, pyramidal inflorescences in spring. The larger the bulb, the bigger the inflorescence.
Scilla peruviana'Alba' £4
White flowers.
Scilla peruviana var. elegans £5
Dark violet flowers.
Scilla peruviana 'Hughii' £5
Purple buds open lilac-blue.
Scilla peruviana var. venusta £5
Attractive long, hanging bracts; many small light blue flowers.

Scilla verna £3.50
Our native Spring Squill. Tiny bulbs with ground level leaves and pale blue flowers in spring. Quickly bulks up to form a fine colony in the rock garden or a pan. Sun. From a cultivated stock originating from West Cornwall. Some of the Continental forms seem less tight to the ground.
Sedum  varieties £4
Three of our favourites among the (far too) many big herbaceous cultivars:
Sedum 'Carl' £4
Lovely bright pink, tinge of red in the glaucous leaf, very compact.
Sedum 'Matrona' £4
Pink flowers in large heads, leaves tinged purple.
Sedum 'Xenox' £4
30cm, with dark leaves (spilt toner?) and reddish flowers.

Semiaquilegia ecalcarata £4
Little spurless violet aquilegia flowers on a well branched 50cm plant. An old favourite returns.
Semiaquilegia ecalcarata Australian form £4
Unusual pale pink (and rather shorter) strain of the spurless mini-columbine, introduced from Aussie cultivation by Rosy and Rob Hardy. Grows and flowers as easily as the normal sort, unlike that infuriating bicolor which I swear has been genetically engineered to fail on any nursery more than 5 miles from Caernarvon...
Sempervivum 'Bronco' £3.75
Just to keep you on your toes, a house leek. A good 'un, though, with nice red tinted rosettes, pink flowers and a hearty constitution.
Sempervivum 'Othello' £4
Huge dark red (in sun) pseudo-echeveria rosettes. Some people are amazed that it's a sempervivum at all.
Sempervivum 'Red Delta' £3.50
Smaller, cobwebby rosettes, still a good red.
Senecio polyodon £3.75
One of the purple flowered South African species, with quite a few smaller daisies in a head, seeding around benignly in sunny, well drained places. Height around 50cm. Short-lived perennial.
Senecio pulcher £5
Very large, vivid magenta, yellow-eyed daisies over dark, glossy, leathery leaves. Runs gently in rich, not boggy soil in full sun. Hardy south and west, as a rule of thumb. 40cm. Best of all, it flowers in October!
Sidalcea reptans £5
A little creeping, pink flowered wetland species from the American West. Rarely seen in cultivation.
Silene dioica 'Inane' £4.50
Purple leaved male red campion. Very effective.
Siphocranion macranthum £4.50
Many, rather floppy stems carry small hairy leaves which take on purple tints and look, rather than feel, wonderfully velvety. Bright, rich purple flowers like a narrowly tubular snapdragon, in autumn. Very distinct. For a moist-but-well-drained soil away from bright sunlight.
Sisyrinchium palmifolium £4.50
The combination of bright yellow flowers and large, bold fans of leaves is unusual in a Sisyrinchium. Height to 50cm, not invasive.

Smilacina see Maianthemum

Soldanella villosa £3.50
Perhaps the easiest of a famous genus, and certainly one of the most substantial. Rounded hairy leaves, frilled bell shaped violet-blue flowers on stems to 20cm in summer. For a moist but well-drained soil in a cool position.
Speirantha convallarioides £4
Dark green leaves and fragrant flowers, white as white, in late spring. Less spready than Lily of the Valley, but similar in scale, and quite closely related. For humusy shade.
Spiranthes cernua odorata 'Chadd's Ford' £3.75
An easy orchid, related to the Autumn Lady's Tresses. Tall, to 45cm, spikes of little white fragrant flowers in autumn. Gently spreading. Suits the rock garden or well drained front of border in sun.
Stachys balcanica £4
Very hairy grey-green leaves; white flowers with a hint of pink. 30cm tall. Sun, good drainage.
Stachys macrantha 'Robusta' AGM £4.50
An excellent, large flowered plant for near the front of the border. Pinky purple.
Stachys ossetica £4.50
Large, pale creamy yellow flowers; dark green textured leaves. 30cm. Very different, very beautiful. Sun and good drainage.
Stachys thunbergii £4
A useful and highly attractive plant - the name seems to have settled now (previously listed tentatively as ciliata). Low and spreading without rooting, rather in the manner of Diascia rigescens, it has dark green, shiny leaves and deep maroon flowers over a long season from early summer to autumn.
Sternbergia lutea Angustifolia Group £4
Narrow leaved form of this easy bulb which brings sunshine to the September rock garden.
Stipa gigantea 'Gold Fontaene' £5
Ordinary S. gigantea is a grand grass, with its airy, oaty flower heads lasting well into winter. This is just the same, but even taller and with slightly broader inflorescences. Has reached 2.5m with us. Sun and... space.
Strobilanthes nutans £4
Forms a nice dense weedproof clump in shade under large shrubs. In late summer, hanging inflorescences of pure white flowers appear. Found by the late Edward Needham as an epiphyte in Nepalese cloud forest, it is vigorous and hardy in our coldest, wettest spot; less reliable in colder parts of the UK.
Strobilanthes wallichii £4
A dwarf, forming a dense clump of pale green foliage, only about 30cm high. It's highly floriferous: flowers are pale violet, in early autumn. Sun or light shade.
Strobilanthes rankanensis £4
Our well established clump is huge and spectacular. Stems grow up steadily from a tough rootstock as the year progresses. By late summer it is a dome 1.8m in height and width. For several weeks in autumn, the dome is covered in a succession of large, light purple flowers. For rich soil in some shade.
Symphytum 'Rubrum' £4
Most symphytums are either monolithic, dangerously invasive, or cringeing weeds. This noble exception forms a neat little clump, around 30cm in height, with nodding, wine red flowers in early summer. A sweetie.