Salix bockii

A very unusual willow for its summer/autumn flowering - the catkins are creamy white up to 2ins long on long slender branches covered in small oval grey green leaves.

Frankly it looks nothing like a willow, but is an adaptable small to medium shrub suitable for any not-too-dry soils in sun or semi shade.
£10

Perovskia Filigran

A choicer, shorter plant than the P.atriplicifolia cultivars we normally see and probably a form or hybrid of P.abrotanoides, which is less easy to grow in moist mild climates.  The silver foliage is very finely cut, the stems are white and the flowers are intense blue.

I’ve not yet worked out how to get the best from it but a very dry site with maximum exposure is probably the key. Very cold hardy.
sold out for now

Viburnum cylindricum

An evergreen species grown for the unusual greyish cast to the foliage and panicles of creamy flowers in summer. Bloomy black fruits.  An uncommon large shrub – excellent on chalk. £16

Two plants for dry shade

Strobilanthes nutans

A really nice change from the better known upright purple flowered species – this one trails over the ground and is seen at its best in a shady raised bed (or a hanging basket? Why not?) with it’s pure white, hop-like inflorescences dangling over the side.

Hardy so far here and unusually classy.
£8

Euonymus fortunei Wolong Ghost

Very different to other forms of fortunei in cultivation – this is a creeping/climbing plant with relatively narrow dark green leaves, the veins picked out in white.

Makes an excellent ground cover in dry shade
£8

Some Shrubs and Larger Perennials

Colquhounia coccinea

Pronounced Cohoonia, a very striking and exotic species, hardy and easily grown in a sunny, well-drained but not parched situation. Stems may die back during a hard winter but grow back during the summer in time to flower in the autumn.

Flowering relatively late, this species can be shy flowering if it does not get enough sun or if there is an early frost, but well worth persevering with.
Sold out

Caryopteris (Tripora) divaricata

A lush green upright bush, dying down completely in winter. The late flowering is the same but the flowers themselves are larger, rich blue, and much more interesting. Another purveyor of rare plants describes the flowers as merely ‘harmless’ which I think is rather a shame. They’re not huge or especially plentiful, but they are jolly pretty. Hardy and adaptable.

Very different to the familiar grey twiggy subshrubs (C. x clandonensis and the like) and this is now classified under another name - Tripora. 

£9

Jasminum fruticans

A lovely small shrub with fresh yellow (unscented) flowers in summer and neat little pinnate leaves. Makes a twiggy bush not more than three feet high here. Easy in any sunny spot in the garden where it won't be overwhelmed by boisterous neighbours. I have no idea why this is not very popular indeed.
£15

Sinningia tubiflora

A South American Gesneriaceae making rosettes of soft grey leaves and tall slender stems of intensely fragrant long tubular milky white flowers.

Dies down to a tuber in winter. These will survive sub zero temperatures if kept dry

sold out

Clerodendrum trichotomum fargesii

Masses of fragrant creamy flowers in summer followed by striking blue berries with contrasting wine red calyces in autumn.

A deservedly popular hardy shrub or small tree of which there never seem to be enough available. Easy on almost any soil in sun but needs plenty of space due to suckering.

Specimen size plants - £30 - collection only

Incarvillea Brighton Pride

I requested seeds of "Incarvillea zhongdianensis alba" from the AGS exchange back in 2011. Most of them came up as I.delavayi but one came up with very rich pink flowers, well textured foliage and a bit shorter at 8-10ins tall.

At first I thought it was a dark pink form of delavayi (which is itself a good thing as there aren't many cultivars of the species) but now I think it might be a hybrid. At any rate it's a very good colour (it really glows on the nursery at the moment), it seems very tough (other species have been a bit hit and miss for me here) and it comes +/- true from seed so I've been raising as many as I can and this year I'm offering it for sale.

I'm calling it Brighton Pride in honour of my home town's spirit of lively diversity
Sold out for now

Geranium orientalitibeticum

A choice ground-covering species with rosy pink flowers but the main thing is the leaves which are beautifully marbled with lime green.

An easy well-behaved small border plant
£6

Kniphofia brachystachya

A small species – only about 50cm tall, producing dense spikes of honey yellow/orange flowers from dark buds and which turn black when spent. Very striking.

Came through the recent cold spells in their pots in the open without trouble

£8