Martin and Janet Blow run the small specialist nursery
SpecialPerennials.com and currently hold the National Plant Collection of
Helenium cultivars. They have just been awarded National Collection status for their
Centaurea collection which grows in their private garden and in the nursery trail beds.
An early interest in
Centaurea montana hybrids led on, in the manner of collections, to related species such as
cheiranthifolia and
triumfettii, knapweeds such as
macrocephala and
glastifolia. Today the collection includes more upright plants like
C. nigra, jacea, phygia and
uniflora, and alpines such as
C. athoa and
bagdagensis.