The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2014 runs from 20 – 24 May. You cannot deny that the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the pinnacle of any horticultural calendar. Although it can divide public opinion with some of the garden designs, the event is a fantastic showcase for new plants, undiscovered plants and old favourites!
Geranium ‘T&M’s Choice Mixed’
Young plants – what’s all the fuss about?
The world has changed so much over the last 20 years and we seem to have less and less leisure time. Thankfully, the gardening world has changed as well. And, now, customers looking for a fast-track way of growing can buy a whole range of young plants, delivered to your door, and in a much wider range than you’d find in any garden centre!
Thompson & Morgan takes the difficult bit out of growing… the germination. It’s something that often requires tricky conditions, consistent temperatures, and time and patience.
We do all the germinating for you, raising our young plants in module trays of various sizes, and then pack them so they’re delivered to your door in tip-top condition!
Fuchsia ‘Giants Collection’
We pride ourselves on being able to offer varieties with garden performance, rather than “pack” performance. Varieties that look pristine and are in flower in the garden centre or DIY store often fail when planted into the garden – they simply run of steam. However, our varieties will perform all through the season, and in colours and mixes the shops just don’t bother to sell.
Browse our range of plants and you’ll see what I mean. Any young plants can be grown on the windowsill too – it’s not about having a greenhouse or conservatory. If you really want to get growing, you can always set up a table in a well-lit back bedroom. All the plants need is light and warmth!
Busy Lizzie ‘Divine T&M’s Choice’
So, what you waiting for?!
On November 16th I leave the UK to trek 100km across the Costa Rican jungle for the Alzheimer’s Society.
My Nana
My Nana, who gave me my crazy thirst for plants, gardening and being outdoors, sadly died a few years ago. Without her getting me hooked on plants, I wouldn’t be where I am today. We used to spend a huge amount of time together, we were almost joined at the hip, especially going to the WI market together to sell our plants, a fact I always kept a secret from my friends!
I’ve been thinking about the best tribute to her, and think a 12-day trek through the rainforest in Costa Rica would be perfect. I’ll hopefully get to see loads of unusual plants, which my Nana and I used to drool over in her gardening books! I never imagined I’d get to see those plants for real.
I’ve chosen to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society, as my Nana sadly contracted this in the years before she died, so I’d like to give something back. I am funding the trip myself, which means that 100% of the money I raise will be going to the charity.
Ready for the off!
We start and end our 12-day trek in San Jose, going to the Pacific and Caribbean coasts and through villages, farming communities and palm oil plantations along the way. According to the itinerary, agile spider monkeys will mock us as we clamber over and under enormous tree roots. We’ll visit Volcan Irazu, Costa Rica’s highest active volcano. If it’s a clear day, we’ll be able to see both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts! There’ll be streams to cross, a day of rafting including white-water rapids followed by a break at a waterfall. Not forgetting, of course, the myriad of flora and fauna to delight in. The trek ends on the white sands of the Caribbean coast.
If you would like to donate to this worthy cause, please visit my JustGiving™ page: www.justgiving.com/gardeninggreek.
You can follow my progress at facebook.com/planthunter.uk and www.twitter.com/gardening_greek
It’s a busy time for us at Thompson & Morgan, here’s a taster of a typical week at work for me!
Monday
After a few days off, it’s back in fresh and early for a varied week of meetings, product research and catalogue preparations.
Today I meet with Sarah, our trials manager, to discuss how we can enhance our customer trials programme. This is a project we’ve been running for 3 years now, and it involves sending our products to a selected group of customers and asking them what they think of them. We get some very good, honest comments and some photography which is almost as good as our own!
Sarah and I also chat through which plants we’re going to grow to enter for Plant of the Year at Chelsea Flower Show. This is a very tricky project as the plants have to be grown out of season, which means they’ll need extra warmth and lights. We draw up a shortlist which we’ll then run past Paul Hansord, our horticultural director, as soon as we can, as we’ll soon need to start taking cuttings! In 2012, we WON Plant of the Year for our innovative Foxglove ‘Illumination Pink’. Bred by our amazing plant breeder, Charles Valin, this is a ‘futuristic foxglove’, which flowers much longer than older types and is in exotic colours never, ever seen before!
The monster pumpkin – can you guess how many seeds are in it?
Tuesday
It’s the week of Halloween, so today I make sure we’ve given our ‘count the seeds in the pumpkin’ competition the push it needs, which means updating and scheduling my social media accounts, and also setting the dates of the seed count into my diary, just so we don’t forget! I also notice that the Great British Garden Revival information is starting to leak through social media. This is a programme that was filmed at our trials site during the summer, and I should be featuring in the ‘bedding’ episode. It’s a new series, designed to make gardening a bit trendy again. We don’t have definite broadcast dates yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as we do.
Filming at our trials site
Wednesday
This week is one of the last weeks before the big spring plant catalogue goes to the printers, so I’m working closely with the catalogue team to make sure they have everything they need from me for the new products. There are about 70 products, so this has been a lot of work over the last few months; speaking to suppliers, assessing trials, instructing photography (with our new photographer, Helen Freeman), writing copy notes, working out the main selling points and so on. We have some EXCELLENT new products – I won’t give too much away, but imagine a ‘blue’ carnation and an azalea-flowered geranium for starters…
Thursday
Lots of catching up on e-mails today, there’s always so much going on, product development never seems to stop, and sometimes I could be talking to suppliers about products that might be 15 or 20 years away! It took us 15 years to develop the TomTato®, which you may have seen recently, it’s a plant which produces tomatoes AND potatoes. The plants are simply grafted together – it’s not a new concept, but we are the first company to make a large amount of plants and to marry up a high quality, sweet tomato with a good cropping white potato.
Friday
Some of today is spent preparing for Saturday’s QVC show. We regularly sell our plants through this shopping channel on TV, and I’m a brand ambassador for Thompson & Morgan on the show. This week it’s a gift show and we’re selling a Christmas tree! I make sure we get some good photos of me lifting it (it was heavy!), and working with Sarah Dodsworth from the QVC team, we agree on the main selling points, and also source some photos of bad Christmas trees. This will all help make the sell stronger; our Christmas tree is the no-drop, no-flop tree, one of the highest quality money can buy. I try to get to bed early, so I can get up at 5am (yuk) to travel down to Chiswick for the show.
It’s really heavy!
Plants with a split personality
Did you know that there are a few plants out there with some surprising properties, many of which you’d have no idea about at first glance!
Name:
French Marigolds
Description:
Want to know the secret of growing bumper crops of tomatoes? Well, by growing African or French marigolds in greenhouses or borders, you can actually repel white fly from your tomatoes. It has also been found that tomatoes grow better and bear more fruit, which is tastier, with marigolds around them.
Best season to sow/plant:
Sow seed each spring and plant out after all risk of frosts
Growing tips:
French marigolds are also ideal for attracting bees and butterflies to your garden, so why not do your bit for the declining bee populations?
Name:
Pansies
Description:
Who’d have thought that pansies were a salad vegetable? Just think how you could surprise your friends with a plate of rainbow-coloured flowers instead of the usual limp lettuce selection! The flowers have a slightly peppery taste, and won’t need a sniff of dressing!
Best season to sow/plant:
Pansies enjoy a cool climate, so plant in shady corners. Ideal for summer or winter flowering planting schemes.
Growing tips:
Always keep ahead with removing faded flowers; this will keep the new blooms coming.
Name:
Nasturtiums
Description:
Can’t quite afford capers, or find the taste too tart? Why not try growing your own? Nastrutiums are an excellent substitute for capers, with the peppery kick of the unripe seeds. Use them fresh or pickle them for later use.
Best season to sow/plant:
Really easy to grow from seed; sow anytime from April to June, straight into the soil outdoors.
Growing tips:
The flowers and leaves are edible too, both with a lovely peppery kick.
Name:
Pea ‘Shiraz’
Description:
Haven’t got a vegetable garden, but want to grow vegetables? Try the decorative pea ‘Shiraz’ with bright purple mangetout pods and two-tone flowers. It’ll be just at home in the flower border, or perhaps even in mixed pots on the patio.
Best season to sow/plant:
You can sow this pea up to July; it’s resistant to mildew, so it can be sown much later than most other peas.
Growing tips:
Peas are so easy to grow, simply plant sow them directly into the ground outdoors.