Plants mean prizes

Grow with Thompson & Morgan this season for a chance to win up to £10,000!

The UK’s largest seed and plant retailer has announced a host of gardening competitions for the 2016 season, rewarding customers for their growing skills.

The highest value prizes are linked to the giant veg growing world.

Giant Pumpkin

Giant Pumpkin – Win up to £10,000

As sponsor of the UK’s official giant pumpkin weigh in, it is stumping up a £10,000 cash reward for a world record breaking entry, £1,000 for a new UK weight record or £500 for the largest pumpkin entered on the day if no records are broken. To take part, gardeners simply need to bring their entries to The Autumn Pumpkin Festival, Royal Victoria Park, Netley, Southampton on 8th October.

Gardeners growing Tomato ‘Gigantomo’® this season can take the fruits of their harvest to the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show (16-18 September) and take part in the National Gigantomo® Championships. Thompson & Morgan is offering £1,000 for the heaviest fruit entered. If that entry beats the current world record (7lb 12oz) the cash jackpot rises to a whopping £5,000.

Tomato 'Gigantomo' and Sunflower 'Tall Timbers'

Tomato ‘Gigantomo’ and Sunflower ‘Tall Timbers’

Having awarded a record £1,000 for the UK’s tallest sunflower in 2015, Thompson & Morgan is upping the ante for the season ahead. The £1,000 prize still stands, but if the grower has raised their plant with the company’s own incredibloom® fertiliser, the prize jumps to £2,000. If that entry also breaks the current world record (9.17m – 30ft 1in) the lucky entrant will receive a cheque for £4,000 (£2,000 for a world record breaker not grown in incredibloom®).

Gardeners don’t need to be growing giant specimens to take advantage of the prizes on offer. A host of smaller prizes are also up for grabs through a wide range of online competition categories. These test photographic flare as well as growing skills.

How does a £50 Thompson & Morgan voucher sound, simply for growing one of the easiest hardy annuals? If you are supporting the charity Thrive by growing the exclusive Sweet Pea ‘Eleanore Udall’ make sure to take photos of your plants in bloom, or perhaps a vase of fresh cut flowers. The five best photos entered will each receive a £50 Thompson & Morgan voucher to spend on the garden for the 2017 season.

Wildlife gardeners can win £100 of flowers to attract even more wildlife to the garden, simply by submitting their best garden wildlife shot – from butterflies and beetles to birds and badgers, Thompson & Morgan wants to see what creatures are visiting your garden this season.

Other online competitions include:

Closing date for all online competitions is 30 September 2016. For full details of these competitions, plus many more, click here. Giant Pumpkin entries must be brought to The Autumn Pumpkin Festival, Netley, Southampton on 8th October for judging.

Pick a bouquet a week – and the flowers still keep coming!

Pick a bouquet a week – and the flowers still keep coming!

There’s a great deal of excitement at Thompson & Morgan, one of the UK’s largest mail order seed and
plant companies. And it’s all about some very unusual plants!

We’ve all seen bunches of alstroemeria (or Peruvian tree lilies) in florists and supermarkets, but this new 3 variety mix is very different. Thompson & Morgan has specially selected 3 distinctively bicoloured, long-stemmed and vigorous varieties which were originally grown exclusively for the cut flower industry and were not until now available to the home gardener.

alstromeria tree lily

Kelly, from the Design Team being creative with these wonderful bouquet flowers

The long, strong stems are extremely ‘upwardly mobile’ and ‘knit’ together to form a fabulous column of colour from June to November, with plants typically producing in excess of 30-40 flower stems each. You really can pick a bouquet of beautiful, florist-quality alstroemeria blooms each week throughout the summer and the plants will just keep churning out more.

T&M’s new product development manager, Michael Perry says, ‘These alstroemeria are 4 feet taller than any others we’ve seen! They are very unusual varieties which are rarely available. We’re thrilled to be able to offer them.’

He is urging gardeners to grow some for themselves. ‘Get them going up a frame or obelisk in a pot on the
patio, up a fence at the back of a border or up the side of a fence – they’ll get taller and more colourful by the day.’

alstromeria tree lily

A fantastic array of colours and shades

These commercial-quality, premium plants are now available to gardeners who will be pleased to hear that they are all hardy varieties which will successfully overwinter and produce even more flower stems in their second year.

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