April

The herb borage is a well known annual. Not so well known is the equally beautiful form 'alba' which boast pure white, perfectly star-shaped flowers. Each flower is centred by five black stamens which heighten the drama. The flowers are edible, garden visitors can be converted to herbal advocates simply by offering a taste of its white flower.

Aubrietia is a very versatile plant. They are well known for use in rockeries, but the cushion forming habit also makes it useful as a ground cover; it can be planted in beds and is perfect for underplanting shrubs. they can also be used between paving and walls, or create a wonderful foil for spring bulbs.

Aubrieta has long been treasured for its delightful spring show of brightly coloured flowers. ‘Whitewell Gem’ is smothered by large, intense reddish-purple flowers for several months. Lovely spilling out of crevices or over rock walls, the plants can also be used in paving with other ground hugging plants.

Commonly called ‘Rock Cress’, Aubrieta is a traditional rock garden plant that is lovely spilling out of crevices, growing over rock walls or placed in stonewalls. 'Leichtlinii' forms a low cushion of leaves that is, throughout the summer months, smothered by wonderful deep-carmine flowers.

Aubrieta 'Hendersonii' is a vigorous variety that is smothered by rich lilac-purple flowers for several months in spring. It grows to only 10 to 15cm tall at maturity, but with a spread of around 45cm it makes a lively edging to a sunny border, growing over rock walls or placed in stonewalls.

Asphodeline lutea is an easy to grow perennial that has great architectural form. The overall impression is distinctly upright, so it is good for adding vertical interest to the garden. In early summer leafy stems arise that bear dense, unbranched cylindrical spikes of gorgeous yellow, star-shaped flowers.

Prized for its beautiful silvery foliage, the fine grey-white stems of Artemisia ludoviciana bear silvery-white leaves that are fragrant, fuzzy and soft. This finely textured plant adds a different element to the garden, the texture and leaf form setting them apart from those other garden plants with rather less refined foliage.

Native to Canada and the US in all states east of the Rockies, this superb variety is quite unlike the usual Aquilegia. Growing just twelve to eighteen inches tall, with dark-green foliage and eye-catching, scarlet and lemon-yellow flowers which hang like drifts of softly illuminated lanterns.

Aquilegia atrata is a beautiful free flowering species that is native to the alpine meadows and forest clearings of Switzerland and Northern Europe. With many branching stems of deepest coloured, almost black flowers. This is an outstanding, highly sought species that would be a showstopper in any garden.

Antirrhinum majus ‘Tetra Mix’ produce tall, stately plants with ruffled blooms in a rich variety of colours. The robust plants grow to around 90cm tall. Superb for contrast and for giving height to the border, they are grown year-round by florists as a cut flower and are an all-around excellent garden performer.

Worldwide, Antirrhinum is one of the most important 'summer cut-flowers', grown year-round in greenhouses they are adored by florists and gardeners alike. An all-around excellent garden performer, 'Snowflake' produces densely packed spikes that bloom in succession with pure white flowers.

Antirrhinum majus 'Lucky Lips' has been awarded the Fleuroselect Award. The judges were impressed by its height and compact plant habit. Blooming with distinctive contrasting bicolour purple-red and white flowers, a colour way that is often referred to as a 'silver bi-colour', it is ideal for adding height to borders or for cutting.

Antirrhinum majus 'Kimosy' is a lovely dwarf variety of Snapdragon with a tidy, compact habit. An all-around excellent garden performer, the plants perform well in containers, in beds or in borders. In a wide range of colours they flower from early summer right through to mid-autumn.

Antirrhinum 'Yellow Shades' feature delicate primrose-yellow, frilled blooms on compact plants. Double snapdragon blooms are often referred to as 'butterfly' or 'Azalea' type blooms. Given sunshine and well-drained soil, they grow vigorously and flower freely.

'Twinny White' snapdragons produce large 'butterfly' or 'azalea' flowered blooms that jostle one another for space on compact plants. Given sunshine and well-drained soil, they grow vigorously and flower freely. The plants are exceptionally weather tolerant, and are excellent performers in both heat and rain.

The Antirrhinum 'F1 Twinny' series offers large 'butterfly' azalea flowered blooms that jostle one another for space on compact plants. 'Twinny Violet' blooms with the most luscious, deep violet-magenta double blooms. They grow vigorously and flower freely and are excellent performers in both heat and rain.

A new introduction for 2025 - Antirrhinum 'F1 Twinny Rose-Pink' produces blooms in a soft, warm Rose-Pink. Large, double azalea flowered blooms jostle one another for space on compact plants. Ideal for the middle of the border, their habit makes them especially useful in containers while making an excellent cut flower.