Can anyone recommend summer-flowering Alpines that die back in winter?

I'm sure I've seen little Dianthus recently at B&Q.

 

Many saxifrages are very adaptable - they like some sun, but they certainly don't mind dampness. They wouldn't last long here if they didn't cope with wet. It's all about drainage though. Most of mine grow on top of the gravel, or grow down over the raised bed edges. The one I mentioned will grow in full shade and full sun here, and it's only really long term dryness that affects them. I know someone with a London garden once mentioned they found it suffered in their climate due to drought. Much hotter and sunnier there too.
I sometimes have cyclamen seeding and growing though Arabis, but I don't know how well they'd do it in a pot. The foliage is very dense, and cyclamen stems are very fine. The ones that seed under other plants in my garden never really flower well.
I think you'd have to experiment [ and that could be costly!] if you're determined to have other plants in the pot with them.

 

I had a look in Morrisons flower shop and all they have at the moment are some uninspiring (to me) house plants.

This time of year I will probably be out of luck everywhere. This is just the time of year when I want to plant things. I have in the past seen lots of amazing little alpines for sale in Morrisons, very cheaply at about a pound for a little pot, but probably it was during the summer.

 

I was in B&Q today and saw some dianthus; they were bright pink ones which didn't really appeal to me. I bought a couple of nice Skimmias.

 

Places like Morrisons only sell this kind of stuff when its in flower, Morrisons are full of Christmas now.
I'm not sure you need Alpines as most need good sunshine and cool conditions with good drainage.
How about plants like Hostas

 

I don't have much space, and can't see the point of Hostas. I have wasted too much money on big plants that take over with their leaves, and I don't have much time for things that don't flower, or at least smell nice, or do something interesting like a tree. Cyclamen leaves are attractive, Cyclamen flower, and Cyclamen are seasonal, mostly disappearing underground in the summer. Nothing else flowers in winter, and bulbs drive me crazy with their messy leaves that you have to leave alone for months or not get flowers the next year. Might work for people with a bigger space. For that matter I could grow more summer-flowering Cyclamen purpurascens and repandum, which have really pretty silver leaves, though that would take a long time and most Cyclamen species have to be grown from seed and you can't just pick them up at your local nursery. I have such a small space I don't want to waste it on something I just don't like, that takes precious light and space away from things I do want to grow.

I have struggled with a lot of small non-invasive Alpines, some are still there but they don't grow quickly. Saxifrages and Creeping Thyme I have tried so many times with very little success. They would be perfect. I just don't see the point in Hostas unless you have a big garden that you need to cover the space, which I don't.

Morrisons do sell all kinds of small Alpines in the summer, and at about a pound for a small pot I can afford to take a chance on things that might not flourish. I have always been surprised by what has been successful, and one of my favourites, Bacopa, which cost about a pound from Morrisons, the books tell you dies back in winter and is a tropical plant, and to treat it like an annual, but for me it flowers and thrives all year, is flowering right now, covered in small white flowers, and has a perfect growth habit as it both climbs and trails. It is definitely a perennial and has been there for years now, an absolute keeper. At first it took over a bit and I had to trim it carefully, but it didn't mind being cut back as long as I was careful, and it goes well with all the other plants.

It is just the wrong time of year to find anything. I am grateful for my Cyclamen that are flowering, and have taken years to get there. I just wanted to find summer-flowering little plants that wouldn't overgrow them. I will have another look for some in the summer.

 

@groundbeetle if your garden is so sheltered that the bacopa is still flowering, then why not just get all the different cyclamen that flower through the year? I have cyclamen Mirabile Tilebarn Nicholas/Anne/Grevillea in my cold greenhouse, and the foliage is so interesting that I don't mind if they don't flower for years. I know plant world seeds sell lots of different cyclamen seed. Or the cyclamen society?