Tulbaghia - Zephyranthes

Tulbaghia 'Bob Brown' £4
A putative violacea / cernua hybrid which usefully combines the vigorous evergreen (usually) clumps and tall flower stems of violacea, with the subtle merging green/purple/yellow colours in the flowers normally found only in winter dormant species. Hardy and easy, flowering in early summer. It's occasionally seen under the prosaic name 'new var 5'.
Tulbaghia capensis £4
One of the few winter-green, summer dormant species, with clove-scented brown flowers in winter or spring, depending on the weather.
Tulbaghia aff. cernua CDR 199 £5
Broad leaved, winter dormant plant with stout crowns. Small green flowers with yellow coronas in summer. 50cm. Sun, ideal for a pot.
Tulbaghia 'Cosmic' £4
An evergreen violacea hybrid, with a decent head of pink-purple, not uniformly coloured flowers, with a chunky yellow corona. Thanks to Liz Powney, a lady who takes her National Collection seriously. All power to her and her informative website tulbaghia.com.
Tulbaghia 'Fairy Star' £4
Short (25cm) with fine leaves and starry pink flowers. Very floriferous and distinctive. Evergreen too.
Tulbaghia 'Hazel' £4
Yet another evergreen hybrid, this time with flowers of a strange but attractive brownish pink. The corona is yellow, tipped with brown. Night scented - cool! I really rate this plant - thanks again, Liz.
Tulbaghia leucantha H&B 11996 £3.50
Little orange and brown flowers on thin 20cm stems. Fast bulking and free flowering. The form once known as dieterlinii.
Tulbaghia leucantha larger form £4
Creamy-green with orange corona - height 25cm.
Tulbaghia violacea 'John May's Special' £4
A splendid large violacea, around 80cm in height with 2cm diameter mauve flowers in summer and autumn. As hardy as tulbaghias get, in a well drained soil in sun. Evergreen, like all the violaceas.
Tulbaghia violacea pallida £4
Pretty white flowers from pale pink buds; 50cm. Equally tough.
Tulbaghia violacea 'Peppermint Garlic' £4
An American selection, almost as tall as John May's, but with larger, paler flowers. Very nice.
Tulbaghia violacea 'Silver Lace' £4
Beautiful silver variegation contrasts well with pink-purple flowers on 30cm stems. Bulks up to form an attractive clump, but best given some protection in colder parts of the UK. Often flowers more freely in pots.
Tulipa sprengeri AGM £3
The classic easy, lovely, slender, red, late flowering tulip species which naturalises so well in grass, even in quite a bit of shade as at Kingston Bagpuize House. I admitted to some foolishness last year - we didn't then realize a further foolishness was to undervalue these bulbs, which aren't particularly easy to obtain nowadays!
Veratrum formosanum £5
Quite unlike the familiar stout, large leaved, slow-bulking curse-of-the-cows species, this narrow leaved Taiwanese plant has spikes of really dark blackish red flowers in late summer. Slugs love it as much as nigrum, I'm afraid. Always in great demand.
Vernonia crinita 'Mammuth' £5
The effect is somewhere between Aster and Eupatorium - rich violet-purple (the trouble we have naming colours in that red-blue area...) composite flowers on tall stems, 2m+ under the right conditions. An excellent plant for the border in autumn. Slow to propagate.
Veronica dabneyi £4
One of the very few pink veronicas, and certainly the most unusual. Upright spikes of clear pink flowers to 10cm tall; spreading stems with tiny, glossy leaves. A useful and long flowering cover for a sunny bank, as at Glasgow Botanics.
Veronicastrum latifolium £4
Different again, this is a traily / climby species, which can root to form fair sized clumps or ramble through shrubs. Small blue flowers in axilliary clusters. Interesting and pleasant, but not for tidier parts of the garden.
Veronicastrum  villulosum £4
A similar rambling habit, but with hairy pale green leaves and contrasting deep violet flower clusters. Rather nice.
Veronicastrum virginicum 'Lavendelturm' £4
The usual 2m stems with whorled leaves, with branched spikes of lavender flowers in this case. Self supporting. I picked it out in the garden at Beth Chatto's as being somehow more graceful in habit than other varieties, but I still can't put a finger on why.
Wachendorfia thyrsiflora £5
What an interesting plant! From dense clumps of dark green, corrugated leaves in fans, emerge furry 1.5m stems bearing yellow flowers in summer. South African, and hardiest on well drained soils in mild gardens, but still only borderline. Easy and drought tolerant in a large pot: this also allows you to break the ice at parties by showing your friends its vivid orange roots. Or maybe not...

Watsonia
One of the great genera of the Iridaceae from southern Africa, with Gladiolus-like corms and leaves, and spikes of showy flowers in spring or summer. Hardiness varies: all these should be hardy in mild coastal gardens experiencing just a few degrees of frost at night. Most can take much more and are good doers across the south and west of Britain. Grow them in full sun, avoiding poor, dry soils. All make good pot subjects, and can be overwintered under glass in cold districts. Well grown clumps become congested after 3-5 years, and flower better if lifted and split up. Always handle them in late summer, after flowering and before root growth has got under way. All these priced £5 for largest sizes, but of course smaller ones will be cheaper.
Watsonia aletroides £5
Unique tubular flowers in a 2-sided spike, a delicate soft red in colour. Ours reaches around 40cm, though it can be taller.
Watsonia angusta £5
An evergreen from wetter habitats with light orange flowers, reaching about 1m. Tough.
Watsonia borbonica pink form £5
A lovely clear pink, and seems quite tolerant of heavy, wet ground. Early season. It's great favourite of ours.
Watsonia humilis £5
With white flowers delicately flushed pink is short (25cm), early and free flowering: best in a pot or very mild well drained bed.
Watsonia knysnana £5
A large flowered mid-season pink in our form. (silent k, y as in 'eye' - named for the town)
Watsonia laccata Pink Form £5
Related to aletroides. Pink open faced flowers from smart 'varnished nails' bracts on slender 60cm stems: really lovely.
Watsonia laccata Orange Form £5
Is just the same but a soft peachy orange. Thanks to Dick 'Agapanthus' Fulcher.
Watsonia brick red hybrid £5
Is a tough pillansii type, to 1.5m, a deeper, more sombre colour than 'Stanford Scarlet'.
Watsonia 'Peachy Pink Orphan' £5
Tall, semievergreen and hardy, with short, curved light peachy pink flowers. pillansii influence.
Watsonia pink hybrid £5
Fantastic, despite the prosaic name. Very long, branched inflorescences of big, screeching pink flowers make it a real traffic stopper. Cold, wet winters may be fatal, so look after it! Later season.
Watsonia 'Stanford Scarlet' £5
Another tough pillansii hybrid which reaches 1.5m high in our heavy soil, with loud orange-scarlet flowers. Close inspection is rewarded by the beautifully contrasting indigo anthers.
Watsonia 'Tresco Dwarf Pink' £5
A charming, very floriferous and hardy shell pink variety, more compact at around 60cm.

Wulfenia x schwarzii £4
Related to Veronica, with 30cm spikes of deep blue flowers in spring, over clumps of rounded glossy green leaves. Sun, ordinary soil. I've no idea why this fine, easy plant is so rarely seen.
Ypsilandra thibetica £4
Belonging to the Melanthiaceae, and close to Heloniopsis, this is a distinctive woodland perennial forming clumps of leafy rosettes. The flowers, in spring, are in tight bunches, white in bud and when first open, ageing pink in fruit. Eminently growable, it will probably become more widely planted than any Heloniopsis in time.
Zephyranthes flavissima £3.50
Small, quickly clumping, fine leaved summer growing bulb with yellow flowers in spring.