Acanthus - Agapanthus

Acanthus dioscoridis perringii £3 / £4
A compact beauty, around 50cm tall in flower. Dark green spiny leaves; pink flowers. Once well established, it forms a tight, dense clump and flowers freely: we have it at eye level on top of a steep bank. Definitely for full sun, but thrives on heavy ground.

Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl' AGM £3 / £4
Clean white, buttony double heads, propagated by division from the Wisley plant which, uniquely in the trials, matched the original description. Height 60cm, spreading, but sanely.

Achillea 'Schwellenburg' £3 / £4
Grey leaves in a dense clump 15cm or so tall, flower heads bright yellow and solid, really hard, like a chunk of cauliflower on a 30cm stem, definitely for sunny, dry places.

Aconitum 'Blue Opal' £3.25 / £4.50
Large, pale blue flowers, stout purple stems. 1m tall. Very fine.

Actaea cimicifuga (Cimicifuga foetida) £3 / £4
Pretty, hooked-over spikes of greeny-creamy-yellow flowers, reaching 1.8m. Dark green, well-divided leaves. Scarce.

Actaea rubra neglecta AGM £3 / £4
It's great attraction is the glossy white (toxic) berries; nice divided foliage up to 1m. Light shade.

Actaea (Cimicifuga) simplex Atropurpurea group £3.50 / £4.50
Deep purple, almost black, divided leaves perfectly offsetting 1.5m spikes of fragrant white flowers in late summer. Colours best in full sun if you can keep it moist, otherwise part shade. Divisions of our fine dark clone.

Actaea simplex 'Brunette' £3.75 / £5
Our stock of the old Bloom's cultivar has never been through tissue culture, unlike most of what you find nowadays. I value it because in sun it is brown-purple, rather than black-purple.

Actaea simplex variegated £7 / £10
Green leaves irregularly splashed white, with white flowers. Does not seem to revert. Brought to the West from Japanese cultivation by Dan Hinkley. Very hard to obtain

Adiantum aleuticum 'Japonicum' £3.25 / £4
A lovely, delicate fern, whose deciduous fronds, bronzed when young, are held around 40cm high on dark stalks. For a humusy, shady place.

Agapanthus
The African lilies are sun-lovers, which flower freely when left to bulk up undisturbed. Most of these should be hardy in the open ground, except in cold parts of the UK. All look good in large pots, perhaps given protection in severe weather. The evergreen praecox forms are hardy in a sunny position in southern England, and can flower well outside, but a little winter protection helps them look their best

Agapanthus ardernei hybrid £4.50
Large, rather airy heads of white flowers; buds flushed lilac. 80cm or so.

Agapanthus 'Buckingham Palace' £6
A tall Lewis Palmer hybrid, to 1.5m or more. Globular flower heads of deepish blue. Scarce and slow to propagate.

Agapanthus campanulatus albidus £4.50
Good sized, somewhat flattened heads of refined white flowers. Vigorous, hardy, relatively short (60cm in flower) and irresistible.

Agapanthus 'Golden Rule' £4
A dinky variegated clone, with a fine gold margin to the leaves - get the pun?

Agapanthus inapertus pendulus £5
Mid blue, not the fabled indigo form, but still nice. Deciduous.

Agapanthus 'Phantom' £10
Very large heads of white flowers stained with a clear light blue towards the edges. Tall (1.5m), stout, hardy and very slow to propagate. Fabulous.

Agapanthus praecox white form £5
Big round, long-lasting heads of clean white flowers on 1m+ stems. Evergreen.

Agapanthus praecox 'Flore Pleno' £6
Extraordinary and large deep blue double flowers. Evergreen.

Agapanthus praecox 'Variegatus' £4.50
White and green longitudinally striped leaves. Flowers blue. Evergreen.

Agapanthus 'Windsor Grey' £10
Big round heads of delicate grey-white flowers, with a faint hint of lilac, on stems to 1.2m or so. Deciduous and pretty hardy. Beautiful, uncommon, and in great demand.