Pratia

An unusual plant from Australia, this has masses of deep green evergreen leaves on creeping stems, which are studded with violet flowers all summer. The remarkable thing about this plant is that, unlike most rock plants, it thrives in a variety of conditions, from sun to quite deep shade. Although it prefers moist soil, it also thrives happily in dry conditions once it's well established. It's useful as flowering ground cover in rock gardens and borders generally, and in containers of shade-loving dwarf and alpine plants such as ramonda, haberlea, and alpine primulas.