Welcome to my 2008 selection of common native plants in less familiar form.  I’m afraid there is nothing really new to this year’s list which, if anything, has shrunk slightly owing to difficulties in 2007.  However, I hope it still contains plants to excite and intrigue.  I do have several novelties in the pipeline, but they are not ready yet.  With fingers firmly crossed, I will be adding them early next year.

In a sense our native flora is richer than people think, as even the humblest species can exhibit wonderful variation. The herbalists Gerard and Parkinson described and cultivated unusual forms of wildflowers in the seventeenth century and I have no doubt they would have recognised some of the plants on my Nursery list. 

The range is small, but features a mixture of interesting, beautiful and occasionally bizarre plants, some of them new in cultivation.  Here, among others, you can find clovers and buttercups with unusually coloured leaves or flowers, variegated nettles and proliferous plantains.  The list contains many native species that will attract wildlife and help boost garden biodiversity, including both nectar plants and caterpillar foodplants for butterflies and moths.  There are some unusual edibles and herbs for gardeners, too. 

The great majority of these plants are of known native provenance, with a strong contingent from the Forest of Dean. 

As this is a restricted mail order nursery with very limited stocks of plants and seed, please see my 'Ordering and Terms of Supply' page first.  Thank you and happy browsing!

Rosemary Castle

Alternative Plants, Gloucestershire, England

(site last updated 01 July 2008)