perennials AND biennials

A rare form of acanthus with pure white flowers on silvery-green spires. Extremely elegant, non-invasive, bright and ghostly, and invaluable for thriving in a north-facing border. Aspect: Shade. a June-September.

H.1.2m S.60cm

200268 3 x 9cm pots £22.95

2L pot £17.95

2L despatched from early October

Here are my all-time favourite perennials and biennials. These are strong growers and great performers, all deserving of a space in your garden.

I love this variety of Japanese anemone, with flowers and glamour, one size up from the standard single white.

Aspect: Part shade. a August-October.

H.1.2m S.60cm

200502 3 x 9cm pots £27.95

2L pot £17.95

Brilliant for creating a carpet under shrubs and trees. They will naturalise and self-sow. Aspect: Shade. a January-February followed by beautiful dappled leaves.

H.15cm S.15cm

200338 3 x 9cm pots £24.95

6 x 9cm pots £44.95

9 x 9cm pots £59.95

You can’t go wrong with white foxgloves. We line the drive with these at Perch Hill, and bees and butterflies love them.

Aspect: Part shade. a May-July. H.1.2m S.45cm

200445 3 x 9cm pots £14.95

6 x 9cm pots £25.95

2L pot £14.95

2L despatched from early October

These plants will be despatched from mid-September unless stated otherwise

Erigeron karvinskianus ‘Profusion’ P TRAILING

Perfect for softening some steps with curtains of daisies, plus you can create a lovely tumbling, outside table centre. Erigeron flowers for months, self-sowing into all the nooks and crannies.

Aspect: Full sun. a April-November. H.30cm, Trailing 90cm

200269 3 x 9cm pots £13.95 6 x 9cm pots £23.95

Gaura lindheimeri ‘The Bride’ (syn. Oenothera)

Wonderful long elegant spikes of pink buds opening to white blooms which flower longer than nearly any other plant in my garden. Passionately recommended. Aspect: Full sun. a May-October.

H.1.2cm S.60cm

201029 3 x 9cm pots £16.95

2L pot £16.95

Choose silver, white, and green to sing out in your border.

2L despatched from late September

rose, this is the result of modern breeding introduced in 2021. A great cut flower from January on, one row of the nectaries has extra mini petaloids for a showy ruffle at the centre of its pure white saucer flowers. Aspect: Shade. a December-February.

H.30m S.30cm

201030 2L pot £19.95

Helleborus x ericsmithii

‘Emma’

I love this new form of ericsmithii hybrids, flowering through winter. They make superb cut flowers, lasting up to a month in water. As its flowers turn to seed, beautiful apple green turns to a soft pink. Aspect: Shade. a December-April.

Up to H.45cm S.45cm

201031

2L pot £25.95

Helleborus x sahinii

‘Winterbells’

Nodding ivory green flowers, tinged with pink. A fantastic cut flower or border perennial in dappled shade. This newly bred hellebore flowers almost all year - I love it! Aspect: Shade. a October-June. H.30cm S.30cm

200437 2L pot £19.95

‘Angel’s Blush’

A pretty plant for a lowmaintenance pot or front of border, with silver, felted leaves and white open saucer flowers with the softest pink blush at the centre.

Aspect: Full sun. a June-August.

H.90cm S.45cm

201327 3 x 9cm pots £14.95

Two stellar Perch Hill perennials here, the huge-headed Agapanthus ‘Queen Mum’, which we have growing along the south face of the farmhouse, flowering its socks off. The seedheads last almost until Christmas too. Pair that with the best-ever, mildew resistant white Phlox ‘David’ and you’ve got one for sun, and one for dappled shade to brighten any garden. a June-September. H.1.2m

201295 2 x 2L pots (1 of each) £35.95

An abundant producer of blousy blooms, this compact peony makes a statement with its large flower heads and contrasting saffron yellow centres. A beautiful addition to any border. Aspect: Full sun. a May-June. H.60cm S.75cm

201391 3 x bare roots £27.50

Despatched from late October

Thalictrum

Standing shoulder height, this exquisite white ballerina’s tutu (look closely at each floret, and you’ll see what I mean) is a classic garden plant that everyone should make room for. Grows happily in dappled shade.

Aspect: Part shade. a June-August. H.1.2m S.60cm

201006 3 x 9cm pots £27.50

Getting a good succession of flowers in a shady corner or the north side of a building is never easy, but this more than fits the bill. Months and months of lovely illuminating white flowers which we grow down the shady side of the school at Perch Hill. Aspect: Part shade. a May-October. H.1.2m

200856 9 x 9cm pots (3 of each) £52.50

Despatched from mid-September

I love astrantias in a dappled shady spot in the garden, flowering long and hard all summer, and I love them even more cut for a vase. They have an intriguing structure which scatters air through any arrangement like lacy clouds. These three, giving a good colour range, were top performers in our perennials for picking trial.

Aspect: Part shade. a May-August. H.60cm

200705 3 x 9cm pots (1 of each) £29.95

‘Intense’

Clusters of small, bright neon pink flowers with green foliage that turns red over autumn. Makes a superb ground cover plant with a low habit. Aspect: Full sun. a June-September. H.30cm S.60cm 201308 3 x 9cm pots

£26.50

Pinks and crimsons look wonderful together, and work well in a cottage garden.

albiflora

If I had to choose three flowers for a lightly shady spot, it would be a mix of these foxglove spires, perhaps with the odd allium sphere scattered through. Their twists and turns, fairy thimbles, and pollen and nectar-rich flowers combine to make them just THE BEST! Aspect: Part shade. a May-July. H.1.2m

201207 15 jumbo seedlings (5 of each) £25.95

Digitalis purpurea

‘Sutton’s Apricot’ B

A lovely soft pink foxglove that looks beautiful with peonies in June. Makes a spectacular cut flower and one of the best early summer cottage garden plants. Aspect: Part shade. a May-July.

H.1.2m S.45cm 200264 3 x 9cm pots £14.95

6 x 9cm pots £25.95

2L pot £14.95

Easy to grow, adored by pollinators, and thrives in poor soil, this is a definite contender for the perfect cottage garden flower. The long stems and rusty blooms look wonderful as cut flowers too. Aspect: Full Sun. a May-June. H.1.m S.60cm 201318 3 x 9cm pots

£28.50

A duo from an east-facing bed at Perch Hill on pretty rubbish ground and shaded for quite a bit of the day. These two glow from there from June to October. Between just two plants, that’s impressive. Aspect: Part shade. a August-October. H.1.2m

201326 6 x 9cm pots (3 of each) £39.95

This border pairing was planted in our rose garden last autumn and in its first season looks just like this. With cascades of scented flowers from above, meeting spears of aromatic nepeta pushing up from ground level.

Aspect: Full sun. a June-September. H.1.2m

201397 4 items (1 x 2L pot of Buddleja ‘Wisteria Lane’ and 3 x 9cm pots Nepeta ‘Amelia’) £37.95

Everyone loves the blues, purples, and mauves. Make sure you include some in your garden.

Agapanthus ‘Northern Star’

Free-flowering and hardy, Agapanthus ‘Northern Star’ is as good in a container as it is in the border. Blooming from a young age, it bears large umbels of star-shaped, cobaltblue flowers with a dark blue stripe through each petal.

Aspect: Full sun. a July-August.

H.1m S.45cm

200786 2L pot £25.95

The brightest, richest Yves Saint Laurent true-blue. You can’t miss it. This variety is known to be one of the best blues which contrasts beautifully with the black eye. It is strong, robust, and makes a brilliant cut flower.

Aspect: Full sun. a June-July.

H.1.8m S.60cm

200533 2L pot £19.95

‘Bloom

This easy-to-care for geranium makes a wonderful border or ground cover plant. An abundance of pretty violet-blue flowers with cream centres, it’s loved by the bees, and clear to see why! Aspect: Full sun. a June-October. H.30cm S.60cm

201310 3 x 9cm pots £33.95

Geranium pratense

‘Cloud Nine’

The prettiest, delicate powder puff flowers in a soft mauve. I love this with whites and soft apricots in the garden - and picked for the vase.

Aspect: Part shade. a May-June.

H.45cm S.45cm

201212 3 x 9cm pots £27.95

2L pot £18.95

One of my favourite childhood trips with my botanist dad was to the Norfolk coast, where sea lavender swathes the flats with delicious mauve throughout summer. More of us should grow this compact form which lasts – and dries.

Aspect: Full sun. a June-November.

H.45cm S.30cm

201176 3 x 9cm pots £29.50

If you put me on the spot and asked me to name two drought-tolerant, minimal TLC, longperforming, and beautiful plants to pair up at the front of a sunny border, patio, or to line a path, these two would be my first selection. Aspect: Full sun. a April-November. H.30cm 201336 12 x 9cm pots (6 of each) £49.95

‘Blue Paradise’

A beautiful, blue-lilac phlox with incredible scent, which attracts lots of butterflies and bees. I love this variety which flowers for AGES.

Aspect: Full sun. a June-September.

H.90cm S.75cm

200592 3 x 9cm pots £14.95

2L pot £14.95

2L despatched from late September

Delicate, lavender-blue flowers above silver-grey foliage. This salvia is droughtresistant, easy to care for, and adored by the bees and butterflies. Aspect: Full sun. a July-Octber. H.1.2m S.1.2m 201314 3 x 9cm pots £16.95

‘Hewitt’s Double’

This has beautiful, compact, lacy, foliage, and then coloured, clouds of flowers in late summer. It blooms for ages with a double-flowered effect given by the petaloid stamens. Aspect: Part shade. a June-August. H.1.5m S.60cm 200686 3 x 9cm pots £27.95

One of the new, improved, long-flowering verbascum which we are growing more and more of at Perch Hill. I love their curving flower spikes in bud, flower, and even as seedpods. This is the loveliest dusky purple.

Aspect: Full sun. a July-September.

H.60cm S.45cm

201263 3 x 9cm pots £17.95

My-oh-my who doesn’t want more of this in their life — luxurious, tropical parrot plumes to knock anyone’s socks off. We have these three growing together in the cutting garden and I adore the moment towards the end of May they flock in.

Aspect: Full sun. a June-July.

H.90cm

201206 3 x 2L pots (1 of each) £48.95

I love all these colours for a hot border. Plant them in threes for a super-bright look.

Achillea millefolium ‘Terracotta’

The fantastic thing about yarrows is that they flower for many months at a stretch. These open the colour of terracotta, fading like a lovely antique tapestry as they age.

Aspect: Full sun. a June-September.

H.75cm S.60cm

200713 3 x 9cm pots £15.95

A rich and handsome astrantia with stand out claret red blooms, dark green stems, and leaves tinged with red as they emerge.

Aspect: Part shade. a May-August.

H.60cm S.45cm

200491 3 x 9cm pots

£29.95

Delphinium ‘Red Lark’ I added clumps of this to our strong colour Oast Garden last year and adored their maypole-like columns surrounded by other early summer Divas - Lupin ‘Terracotta’, ‘Beefeater’ and Oriental poppies.

Aspect: Full sun. a June-July.

H.75cm S.45cm

201174 2L pot £19.95

Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’ Geums are the May colourgap fillers par excellence. Like alliums and aquilegias, we need them for our early summer gardens, and this one flowers long and hard. I love this variety in soft, gentle apricot-orange. Aspect: Full sun. a May-September. H.90cm S.45cm

200605

3 x 9cm pots £23.95

2L pot £16.95

Very easy to grow and highly fragrant, ‘Meditation’ is great for adding washes of colour to sunny borders and containers. Cut back regularly to introduce even more flowers, this plant lasts and lasts. Aspect: Full sun. a June-September. H.30m S.45cm 201307 3 x 9cm pots £29.95

Helenium

My long-standing favourite helenium with orange-crimson flowers. I cut onethird of the stems back to two-thirds their height in June to prolong their flowering. Aspect: Full sun. a July-September.

H.1.2m S.45cm

200106 3 x 9cm pots £19.95

2L pot £15.95

We’ve been on the look-out for a shorter, bushier and very floriferous helenium, which doesn’t need staking. Here it is, a great late-summer and autumn border perennial and cut flower. Aspect: Full sun. a July-September. H.45m S.45cm 201325 3 x 9cm pots £19.95

Brilliant flowers that will last well into late summer and autumn.

Helianthus

We grow this as much for its perfectly upright, towering bottle brush leaf spires, as its late summer flowers. Made famous by use as a bold foliage plant in the Exotic Garden at Great Dixter, I grow it in our Oast Garden.

Aspect: Full sun. a August-October.

H.2.4m S.90cm

201198 3 x 9cm pots £22.95

The scabious-like Knautia macedonica, flowers as long and hard as almost any plant in my garden and the bees and butterflies LOVE them.

Aspect: Full sun. a July-September.

H.75cm S.45cm

200603 3 x 9cm pots

£14.95

‘Firetail’

Persicarias come into their own as many summer perennials fade. I truly love them mixed with hydrangeas in a dappled shady border and picked as the upper storey for a vase. Aspect: Full sun or part shade. a July-September.

H.1.2m S.1.2m

200604 3 x 9cm pots £20.50

A statuesque rudbeckia for the back of a border. Petals are a clear yellow – bright but not too golden – and are reflexed away from a green centre that blackens as it ages. Great for structure through autumn and winter. Aspect: Full sun. a July-October. H.2.1m S.90cm

201197 3 x 9cm pots £16.95

‘Limelight’

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’

The buds open a sharp green in July and gradually pale to ivory-green as they open. Pick or deadhead, and it will flower until winter.

‘Incrediball’