On the City of Durban exhibit in the Great Pavilion (B6) at the Chelsea Flower Show, Lynne Dibley pointed out a new form of a wild Streptocarpus species which she and her husband had collected in South Africa.
Streptocarpus gardenii usually has red stems holding very pale blue flowers with a green throat and a few striking purple streaks on the lip. But in a wooded ravine high in the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa in January 2008 they found a white form. In fact it's white with the same green throat and the same red stems - and also the same long narrow leaves.
Having been found so recently, the plant is still being assessed but coming from high the mountains, at about 900m/3000ft, this white form of S. gardenii may well prove harder than many streptocarpus - although often it's not the cold which kills them in Britain but wet soil late in the winter.
This white form of S. gardenii is not yet for sale but other species are available on the Dibleys website.