by Holly Taylor | Apr 30, 2013 | Michael Perry's Gardening Blog
I’m like a kid in a sweet shop when it comes to plants.. Well, there’s no better sweet shop than the RHS Chelsea Flower Show! Even if you don’t know your tulip from your tropaeolum, it’s hard not to be enthralled by this prestigious show, which will be in its centenary year when it opens on 21st May.
Let me take you back to my very first visit as a 16 year old trainee plant nut… from the very moment I stepped over the threshold, clutching my ticket stub and armed with notepad and pocket camera, I don’t think I had any idea of the sensual journey I was about to start…
Magnificent
From 8am, visitors spill into the show, instantly filling the avenues with enthusiasm, excitement and horticultural camaraderie. It’s fair to say that most make their way straight to the main marquee, for this is where the smorgasbord of plants and flowers awaits. A destination so popular that it now needs directional signs, much like Ikea!
Strawberry towers – just imagine how good they smell!
Every sense here is teased, tousled, massaged. Whether its your eyes when you see the towering spikes of the highest quality lupins, or your nose when you experience the fragrance of the sweetest strawberries, arranged in vertical barrels like beacons of fruity colour. It’s an unbelievable fragrance that needs to be experienced for real!
Breathtaking lupins
Other iconic sights in the main marquee include the almost steroid-packed, 6 feet, yes SIX feet tall, delphiniums and the gorgeous auricula theatres, where these delicate, brightly coloured little gems are set off perfectly against black wooden backing. There are also the great horticultural achievements of those ‘out of season’ displays. A perfect example is the majestic display of hyacinths, grown with specialist skill in order to flower out of sync with their natural behaviour! It’s these elements that make preparing for Chelsea displays so utterly nerve-wracking!
6-feet tall delphiniums!
Visiting gardens and flower shows is an experience like no other; friends, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, gardening rivals, they’re all here, either on their tiptoes to see the latest Laurent-Perrier garden, or playfully fighting it out over which species that meconopsis is. Gardeners can be some of the most competitive people!
Hyacinths in bloom… in May
Of course, it’s easy to get so wrapped up in the plant marquee that you forget there’s a whole host of other stimulation outdoors – the show gardens.
Stunning show gardens
Each year, a wide range of companies sponsor some stimulating gardens. Some are often a little bit ‘Marmite’ (you either love them or hate them!), but do you know what, it’s gets you talking at least!! To see the best of gardens, I recommend getting into the show early. Or being tall!
So how is Thompson & Morgan involved in the show this year? Well, we are still glowing from our Best New Plant win for Foxglove ‘Illumination Pink’ in 2012.
This is an incredible plant, bred by Thompson & Morgan. Its a plant that rights all the wrongs usually associated with foxgloves. Firstly, it flowers for SIX months without pause – usual foxgloves can only spit out a month’s worth of blooms, if that! Secondly, it is a hardy perennial – foxgloves are usually biennial and die out after they flower! Lastly, the colours are some that you have NEVER seen before, like a basket of tropical fruit!
Foxglove ‘Illumination Pink’ – Best New Plant 2012
And, this year, we’ll have some more sure shots for this coveted prize, careful growing is taking place as we speak, getting plants all preened for show day. We’ve revolutionised another perennial border plant too. But, I won’t spoil the surprise, you’ll have to visit the show yourself to see them!
by Holly Taylor | Apr 2, 2013 | Michael Perry's Gardening Blog
Foxglove ‘Illumination Pink’
Thompson & Morgan are like magicians when it comes to plants.. we breed our own!
So, if we see a plant that is short-changing gardeners, perhaps only flowering for a fleeting moment, then we can step in and make some slight adjustments!
There’s no better example than with star of Chelsea Flower Show 2012, Foxglove ‘Illumination Pink’. This incredible plant rights all the wrongs usually associated with foxgloves.
Firstly, ‘Illumination Pink’ flowers for SIX months without a break.. usual foxgloves can only give a month worth of flowers. Secondly, it is hardy… usual digitalis are biennials, and die out after flowering. Lastly, the colours are rare and you won’t ever have seen them before; think mangos, strawberries, papaya!
After winning Best New Plant at Chelsea Flower Show 2012, our customers couldn’t get enough of this ever border perennial, we sold out out in days.
Foxglove ‘Chelsea Gold’
Order your plants now for flowering THIS summer, but be quick though, we expect demand to be high. Foxglove ‘Illumination Pink’ continues to be the UK’s most in demand plant, and this year it’s available in new ‘Chelsea Gold’ colour too.
Look out for me at facebook.com/planthunter.uk or follow me on twitter @gardening_greek, where I’m posting information on new plants daily.
by Holly Taylor | Feb 13, 2013 | Michael Perry's Gardening Blog
Here’s a sneak peek of some new varieties for 2013 – get the inside story here first!
Lisianthus ‘Summer Blue Rose’
Summer Blue Roses
As the world battles to create the perfect blue rose, we’ve been a bit cheeky and devised the new blue summer rose!
This gorgeous lilac-blue lisianthus really caught our attention at an autumn trade show last year with its tightly scrolled buds, which seemed to open to a pseudo-English rose flower! Lisianthus are a popular cut flower across Europe, thanks to their elegant form and vase life. They also make an easy patio or border plant, not needing gallons of water and happy in a baking sunny spot too.
So, it’s not a true rose, but won’t you have fun tricking your friends with some homegrown bunches on the dinner table?!
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Petunia ‘Crazytunia Mandevilla’
Crazytunia series
Wow, these petunias certainly live up to their name!
It’s not often this happens, but the breeders of the ‘Crazytunia’ petunias were told to do whatever they wanted with their petunia breeding. So they went a little crazy! The results are phenomenal, with colour combinations you’ll never have seen before and more to come. I was lucky enough to visit the ‘petunia breeding kitchen’ last summer and, if you think these are wow, you just wait until you see the newer varieties. There’s one I’ve already nicknamed ‘Kermit’!
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Petunia ‘Crazytunia Pulse’
Petunia ‘Crazytunia Wedgwood Blue’
by Holly Taylor | Feb 13, 2013 | Michael Perry's Gardening Blog
In my second ‘make a change to your plant choices’ article I’ll be showing you some superb varieties that have the edge of other plants and vegetables in our range.
Runner Bean Moonlight – self-fertile beans
Grow Runner Bean Moonlight, not Lady Di
Why?
Bad weather and unpredictable summers can mean runner bean flowers often don’t set, giving disappointing (or absent) crops and perhaps discouraging you from growing your own beans again.
When it’s wet there are fewer insects, so the beans don’t get pollinated, and when it’s too hot the flowers can fall before setting.
The French bean blood in Moonlight means the blooms are self-fertile, so will set and produce beans whatever the weather! Why grow any other runner bean?
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Dianthus ‘Endless Love’ – extremely hardy plants
Grow Dianthus ‘Endless Love’, not other dianthus varieties
Why?
Many of the newer pinks and carnations are very pretty, but not necessarily as hardy as their ancestors.
‘Endless Love’ is a new strain from Germany, which combines 100s of sweetly spiced blooms with bone hardiness, up and down the country.
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Sunflower ‘Inca Gold’ – perfect for baskets
Grow Sunflower ‘Inca Gold’ in baskets, not petunias and begonias
Why?
Hanging baskets can become a chore during the height of the summer and will often need watering at least once a day.
Sunflower ‘Inca Gold’ is a brand new specimen, which is makes a resilient basket plant, needing less water than most. And the reward for this apparent neglect is an absolute flurry of sunny blooms from June to October!
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Nasturtium ‘Orange Troika’ – vibrant blooms on marbled foliage
Nasturtium ‘Orange Troika’, not ‘Climbing Mixed’
Why?
Nasturtiums are a mainstay of gardens, but until now haven’t really been suitable for use in hanging baskets.
Nasturtiums usually tend to become giant and cabbage-like, trailing half-way down the garden the minute you turn your back! ‘Orange Troika’ is a new, more manageable type, which keeps itself in check, so works well in hanging baskets.
by Holly Taylor | Jan 30, 2013 | Michael Perry's Gardening Blog
Make a positive change to your plant choices this spring – new from Michael Perry
Perhaps you’ve become used to growing the same plants each year, regardless of whether they perform well for you or not! You may even doubt your own gardening skills when those plants fail or succumb to pest or disease.
I’m about to change all that.
My new range of articles will show you some positive alternatives for you to try, such as tomatoes that won’t be shot down by blight or just some fresher choices for the patio.
Gerbera Landscape’ – flowers all summer long
Grow gerbera ‘Landscape’, not zonal geraniums
Why?
Pots of zonal geraniums can often be the lazy gardener’s choice. Yes, they’re resilient and long-lasting, but wouldn’t you like to try something new?
Recent breeding technology has revolutionised the popular cut flower gerbera. These exclusive new patio varieties are ideal for summer patio pots and will virtually look after themselves.
The plants are incredibly robust and will produce more than 50 blooms through the season. You can save them for the second year, just as you would zonal geraniums, so they’ll come back bigger and better.
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Lily ‘China Girl’ – pollen-free lilies
Grow lily ‘China Girl’, not lily ‘Stargazer’
Why?
For all the beauty of ‘Stargazer’, its colour display can be notoriously short-lived.
Why not consider lily ‘China Girl’? This exclusive new variety will last twice as long as ‘Stargazer’, thanks to its extra layer of petals. You’ll probably also find the fragrance a bit more enjoyable too – it’s softer and less over-powering than usual oriental lilies.
What’s more, lily ‘China Girl’ is also pollen-free, meaning it won’t stain your clothes as the pollen-speckled blooms of ‘Stargazer’ will! ‘China Girl’ is seldom seen in florists or even garden centres.
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Cosmos ‘Brightness Mixed’ – stunning in borders
Grow cosmos ‘Brightness Mixed’, not French marigolds
Why?
The days of regimented, odd-smelling marigolds could be over! There’s now an alternative which is just as brightly coloured and has even more flower power.
Cosmos ‘Brightness Mixed’ is a sulphureus type of cosmos, which has a lovely spreading habit. Plants will knit together and cover the ground better than any marigold, suppressing weeds and mulching the soil as they go, meaning less watering!
We’ve tested these cosmos in our trials for a few years now and they’ll flower right from late June until the first frosts.
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Tomato Ferline – blight-resistant tomatoes
Grow tomato ‘Ferline’, not tomato ‘Moneymaker’
Why?
Tomato Moneymaker is a well-known variety, grown since the 1960s by home gardeners.
But, as UK summers become ever more unpredictable, this older variety just isn’t coming up to scratch. Plants often get destroyed by blight, an airborne fungal disease, which can ruin crops within days.
‘Ferline’ is a sensible alternative, as it is one of the most blight tolerant varieties in the marketplace. The answer to tomato fans’ prayers! Good-sized, tasty fruits, some say even better flavoured than ‘Moneymaker’ too.
