GENTIANA verna
Small
Sun
Blue
Reasonable soil
Spring
Description
Gentiana verna
Height x Spread: 5cm x 10cm
Simply stunning, spring gentian really catches your eye due to its deep intense blue ankle-high starry flowers, each highlighted with a tiny white throat, that appear over a slowly spreading mat of evergreen greyish foliage.
Native to mountainous areas of Europe, this diminutive alpine can be found growing wild in Northern Ireland and County Durham, its show-stopping floral display lasting from late spring into early summer. Fairly picky, it needs a sunny spot in light, free draining soil with some moisture and organic matter to thrive. Perfect for a spring container or specimen plant in a rock garden, if your site and soil conditions are wrong, follow the alpine enthusiasts and grow it in a trough. You will not regret it.
Rosy's Colour Picks
PULSATILLA vulgaris 'Alba'
Commonly known as the White Pasqueflower, this spring flowering perennial has large, pure white, nodding bell-like flower heads which are held above a mound of finely divided, fern-like foliage.
ACANTHOPHYLLUM cerastioides 'Border Belle'
This cultivar of 'mouse-eared baby's breath' has large, white flowers with a pink tint and purple veins over a spreading mat of mid green spoon-like leaves.Available for Mail Order from April - August
SAXIFRAGA Southside Seedling Group
Masses of small, starry flowers with white petals, blotched red at their base, are held in clusters on arching stems above a slowly advancing mat of evergreen rosettes with light green leaves.
ERODIUM 'Felicity'
The white and purple flowers of 'Felicity' are produced in abundance over very dark green filigree foliage throughout the summer.