by Sonia Mermagen | May 20, 2018 | Gardening Posts
FIVE THOMPSON & MORGAN ENTRIES SHORTLISTED FOR RHS CHELSEA PLANT OF THE YEAR
We’re so proud to announce that FIVE of our seven entries into the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year competition have today been shortlisted. We were awarded this very distinguished accolade in 2012 for our fabulous Digitalis Illumination.
Our Head of Horticulture, Paul Masters, commented this afternoon from RHS Chelsea Flower Show:
“I’m thrilled that we’ve got five plants through to the final – including two that are from our own breeding. Each of the plants is so incredible in its own way, we’re really so pleased that this has been recognised by the judges today. We’re keeping everything crossed for the final selection tomorrow!”
Sunbelievable™’Brown Eyed Girl’ is the latest of our many breeding successes. Like no other sunflower, Sunbelievable™ flowers on unique multi-branching plants continuously from May until the first frosts. In trials, plants were still blooming in November! Ideal for containers as well as borders, each plant produces over 1,000 flowers during the growing season. This brand new hybrid which has been perfected over 8 years by our in-house breeding team, headed by Charles Valin, is bred to be sterile so it puts all its energy into flowering rather than setting seed.
Stunning Hydrangea hybrid ‘Runaway Bride’ is completely unique in that it flowers not only from its terminal buds as with traditional hydrangeas, but also from virtually all the lateral stem buds. Flowering from late spring/early summer well into autumn, Hydrangea hybrid ‘Runaway Bride’ produces a profusion of lacecap white flowers flushed with pale pink – often 6 along each branch – on graceful, trailing stems.
The third short-listed plant is another breeding success from our in-house team. Isotoma axillaris ‘Fizz n’Pop Glowing Purple’ is an extra-large-flowered Isotoma boasting an exceptional unfading colour of bright purple. Flowers and petals are much larger than traditional Isotoma and instead of fading over the flowering period, they actually become darker with age.
Next on the list is the latest in the Garvinea® Gerbera series is Gerbera hybrida Garvinea® Sweet Sunset®. Sweet Sunset® is the very first bi-colour variety. Uniquely, this fabulous, vibrantly-coloured gerbera flowers non-stop from early spring until the first frosts, producing masses of large, warm yellow-orange flowers on each plant – more than 100 per plant each year.
The last on the list of the shortlisted plants for RHS Chelsea Flower Show’s Plant of the Year is the amazing Dahlia Lubega Tricolour. This strikingly attractive dahlia represents a major colour breakthrough. Red, yellow, orange and white areas on the petals give the blooms an ever-changing appearance through the flowering period. In a never-before-seen colour combination, flowers will seemingly change colour as the season progresses. It has taken 5 years for this variety to come to the commercial market after its unique colouring was discovered during a bicolour breeding programme.
All plants are available from www.thompson-morgan.com
Sonia works at Thompson & Morgan in the role of press and communications officer. She is a self-proclaimed ‘reluctant’ gardener and is generally amazed if anything flourishes in her garden. Sonia has a ‘hands off’ approach to gardening and believes that this helps to encourage bees, butterflies and other wildlife. (That’s her excuse anyway!)
by Sonia Mermagen | Apr 24, 2018 | Gardening News, Gardening Posts
We’re teaming up with RHS Garden Hyde Hall to create a fabulous garden for an event this summer, aptly named Floral Fantasia. We’re transforming an area of the well-known RHS site near Chelmsford in Essex into a magnificent floral exhibition, showcasing many varieties of bedding plants.
Over four months from June to September, visitors will see thousands of summer bedding plants displayed in beds, pots and hanging baskets in and around the Floral Fantasia garden.
The theme of the event is ‘Inspiring Gardeners Old and New’ and aims to provide visitors with inspiration to create floral impact in their own gardens.
RHS Garden Hyde Hall Head of Site, Ian Le Gros, says:
I’m delighted to welcome Floral Fantasia to Hyde Hall for the first time and it’s been great to work with Thompson & Morgan on this project. It will provide a dazzling display during the summer months and will surely inspire novice and seasoned gardeners, both old and young, to have a go at growing themselves.
Bedding plants are simple to grow and add instant impact to your garden be it in baskets and pots or as gap-fillers for your border, so by the time our visitors have seen the display, they will hopefully go home buzzing with ideas for their own gardens.”
Our own Head of New Product Development, Peter Freeman adds:
We’re thrilled to be working with RHS Garden Hyde Hall to design and create the T&M Floral Fantasia garden. I think it will be one of the highlights of the summer in the East of England! We will be planting many traditional summer favourites, as well as a selection of our new introductions some of which are exclusive to Thompson & Morgan.
We’re particularly excited about our new and exclusive sunflower, Sunbelievable™ which will be on display in borders and pots. There will certainly be tons of inspiration for visitors to take home with them!”
Floral Fantasia at RHS Garden Hyde Hall runs from 1st June to 30th September 2018.
To view our extensive range of bedding plants, go to www.thompson-morgan.com/bedding-plants
For more information on Floral Fantasia at RHS Garden Hyde Hall this summer go to
www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/hyde-hall
About the RHS
Founded in 1804, the RHS is a UK charity established to share the best in gardening. It aims to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and is committed to making the UK a greener and more beautiful place. The charity’s core objective is to be the world’s leading gardening charity by inspiring passion and excellence in the science, art and practice of horticulture.
Sonia works at Thompson & Morgan in the role of press and communications officer. She is a self-proclaimed ‘reluctant’ gardener and is generally amazed if anything flourishes in her garden. Sonia has a ‘hands off’ approach to gardening and believes that this helps to encourage bees, butterflies and other wildlife. (That’s her excuse anyway!)
by Sonia Mermagen | Apr 5, 2018 | Gardening Posts
We are delighted to announce an exciting new relationship with one of the largest conservation charities in Europe: the National Trust. With more than 200 gardens in the National Trust’s care, there is a natural synergy between the Trust’s nature ambitions and our products designed to encourage wildlife in our gardens.
This autumn a new range of plant seeds will be launched, offering customers the chance to bring the spirit of the National Trust into their gardens.
Joseph Cordy, Head of B2B Sales at Thompson & Morgan said:
‘We are delighted to be able to work with the National Trust to offer this new range. The National Trust and Thompson & Morgan share a lot of the same values, history and heritage and we know our customers are going to love the exciting new products we will be creating together’.
Clare Brown, Head of Brand Licensing for the National Trust adds:
‘We’re delighted to offer even more ways for our supporters to help nurture wildlife in their own gardens. These products will complement our existing garden and outdoor offering’.
More announcements about this exciting new range will follow soon.
Sonia works at Thompson & Morgan in the role of press and communications officer. She is a self-proclaimed ‘reluctant’ gardener and is generally amazed if anything flourishes in her garden. Sonia has a ‘hands off’ approach to gardening and believes that this helps to encourage bees, butterflies and other wildlife. (That’s her excuse anyway!)
by Sonia Mermagen | Dec 18, 2017 | Gardening News, Gardening Posts
‘Sunbelievable™’ features:
- Very floriferous and free-flowering
- Stunning bicolour blooms
- Multi-branching
- 1,000 flowers over the growing season
- Fabulous cut flower
- Hugely decorative patio plant
- Truly compact – Height: 60cm (24in) Spread: 100cm (39in)
- Day length neutral – blooms even on shorter, less bright days
- Sterile – so no pollen but still very attractive to bees
- Heat tolerant – great for hot, sunny borders
- Thrives in any well-drained soil
- Will recover quickly if left to dry out
- Deadheading improves flowering performance
Today we’re launching our latest world exclusive plant breeding success. Sunbelievable™ is a truly phenomenal new sunflower. Like no other sunflower, Sunbelievable™ flowers continuously from June until the first frosts. In trials, plants were still blooming in late November. Incredibly, over 1,000 flowers are produced on each plant during the growing season!
Paul Masters, T&M’s Head of Horticulture, said:
“Sunbelievable™ is an amazing breakthrough in decorative plants for the garden in an area that has been distinctly lacking in innovation in previous years. We expect this fabulous new sunflower to make a real impact in people’s gardens – its non-stop blooming will appeal to sunflower lovers and gardeners everywhere.”
Set to create quite a media buzz, Sunbelieveable™ is the product of eight years of work by our breeding team. Head plant breeder, Charles Valin’s vision was to breed a sunflower that was long-flowered and which could be used and enjoyed as a bedding plant as well as in containers.
Charles comments:
“I was always disappointed by the garden performance of traditional pot sunflowers. I’ve crossed the very best with the very best to really boost the plant’s performance. I still can’t believe how many flowers this plant can produce! I also realised that it was the energy that the plant put into setting seed that was preventing it from flowering for long. So I aimed to create a new hybrid that would not set seed and would therefore carry on flowering all summer long.”
Sunbelievable™ is available exclusively from our website for delivery from April 2018. £14.99 for a 9cm potted plant or £19.99 for two 9cm potted plants (saving £9.99).
For more advice on sowing and growing sunflowers, visit our hub – a one stop shop for everything you need to know about growing these gorgeous showy annuals.
Sonia works at Thompson & Morgan in the role of press and communications officer. She is a self-proclaimed ‘reluctant’ gardener and is generally amazed if anything flourishes in her garden. Sonia has a ‘hands off’ approach to gardening and believes that this helps to encourage bees, butterflies and other wildlife. (That’s her excuse anyway!)
by Sonia Mermagen | Dec 5, 2017 | Gardening News, Gardening Posts
Anemone Flowered Mix Double Flowered Hellebore ‘Selene’
Our plant breeding team is proud to unveil its latest success – two brand new and exclusive mixes of hellebores, the UK’s favourite winter-flowering plants. What makes these hellebore mixes so special is that they are both 100% true to type. This has never been achieved before. Stock is only available from T&M and is understandably limited, but gardeners can pre-order from our website now for delivery next spring.
The hellebores featured in the Anemone Flowered Mix are truly breath-taking with their exquisite central ruff of small petals, pleated like a ballerina’s tutu. They look so delicate, but in fact are incredibly hardy. There are six different varieties in the mix, each one with unique colouring and markings, but all flowering 100% true to type.
The Double Flowered Mix is another selection of six stunning hellebore varieties. Each one is uniquely coloured and patterned, but is 100% double across the mix. Perfect for winter perennial planting schemes, our resident plant breeder, Charles Valin, recommends growing them on a gentle slope where they can really show off!
Charles says:
“We’re renowned for our hellebore breeding programme at Thompson & Morgan, so we have seen some amazing breeding breakthroughs over the years, but these two new mixes are really superb. It’s unheard of for a mix of hellebores to bloom 100% true to type!”
Hellebores have long been a favourite of Britain’s gardeners. Flowering for well over three months, these tough, durable plants provide colour at a time when gardens are usually drab and wintery.
Why do UK gardeners love hellebores?
It’s because:
- They provide a long-lasting flowering display from late winter to spring
- They are robust and long-lived hardy perennials
- They attract bees and other pollinators, providing food when it is most scarce
- They make great cut flowers, particularly at a time of year when there’s not much else in the cutting garden
Anemone Flowered Mix comprises varieties Aurora, Juno, Ceres, Diana, Discordia and Juventus and is available from £14.99.
Double Flowered Mix comprises varieties Selene, Athena, Demeter, Artemis, Eris and Hebe and is available from £14.99.
Height and spread up to 40cm (16in)
For more information on Thompson & Morgan’s hellebore breeding programme, go to www.thompson-morgan.com/hellebore-breeding-programme
Sonia works at Thompson & Morgan in the role of press and communications officer. She is a self-proclaimed ‘reluctant’ gardener and is generally amazed if anything flourishes in her garden. Sonia has a ‘hands off’ approach to gardening and believes that this helps to encourage bees, butterflies and other wildlife. (That’s her excuse anyway!)
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