This excellent group of rock garden plants is known as the section Ligulatae, or more commonly as the silver or encrusted saxifrages, in recognition of the deposits of lime that line the leaves. They all have rosettes, large or small depending on the variety, and have relatively large panicles of flowers, usually white. They come from rocky places in the mountains, some on limestone and some on acid rocks.

Saxifraga 'Esther' has rosettes of short, lime-encrusted leaves, dark red at the base. The relatively large white flowers are on fairly short stems, so it can be an attractively showy plant.