Just 3 days left to enter the Thompson & Morgan tallest sunflower competition!
Since the first seed catalogue was published in 1855, Thompson & Morgan has grown to become one of the UK’s largest Mail Order Seed and Plant companies. Through the publication of our catalogues and the operation of our award-winning website, Thompson & Morgan is able to provide home gardeners with the very best quality products money can buy.
Since the first seed catalogue was published in 1855, Thompson & Morgan has grown to become one of the UK’s largest Mail Order Seed and Plant companies. Through the publication of our catalogues and the operation of our award-winning website, Thompson & Morgan is able to provide home gardeners with the very best quality products money can buy.
New Lily ‘Romance’ guaranteed to perform perfectly in patio pots
Trial and competition results prove new oriental lily will grow to perfection in any part of the UK – and maybe even Norway!
Staff competition winner 2015
Here at Thompson & Morgan, we insist on full product testing before making new plants available to our customers. Much of this quality testing is carried out through technical field trials, but we also like to call on staff, customers and members of the press from all corners of the UK to get a better understanding of a product’s suitability to British gardens.
Ahead of launching Lily ‘Romance’ in the Thompson & Morgan 2016 Spring Catalogue, Horticultural Director Paul Hansord set staff and members of the press the challenge of producing the best patio pot of this new dwarf oriental lily.
From dry East Anglia and the wet Welsh Valleys in the west, up to the most northerly point of the UK – one thing is clear; Lily ‘Romance’ is a top performer no matter the local weather conditions.
“Every staff entry was a winner – in the end we had to award more prizes than intended”, said Paul. “Gardening in East Anglia poses a challenge when rainfall can be few and far between. Add drying easterly winds plus the extra challenges of container growing, and it proves this new compact lily will be a stand out hit for our customers in 2016.”
Terry Walton, gardening columnist and radio presenter, won the Thompson & Morgan media challenge with plants raised in his South Wales garden, less than 10 miles from The Vale of Glamorgan, listed by the Daily Telegraph as the third wettest place in Britain with an annual rainfall of 155cm (just over five feet!).
The lilies received a further accolade this summer when cut stems were used in the winning floral entry to the Unst Show, an annual flower and produce event held on the UK’s most northerly Isle.
Writer and photographer Helen Harrison donated the stems to her neighbour for use in the competition. She said: “The latitude at which the lilies have grown is further north than St Petersburg, roughly on a par with Bergen in Norway and Stockholm, Sweden. Unst is actually closer Bergen than Aberdeen!
“During the summer months, there is little darkness and during winter there is a much longer twilight around sunrise and sunset. No part of Shetland is more than a couple of miles from the sea and the salt laden winds are usually major inhibitors to plant growth, but not so with these lilies. They produced lovely flowers and won 1st prize in the show.”
The impressive results have left Paul and the T&M team confident they have the best performing patio lily on the market. Some oriental lilies are too tall for patio pots, needing stakes and supports. The Lily ‘Romance’ Collection will be available in the Thompson & Morgan 2016 Spring Catalogue at £12.99 for six 13/14cm mixed colour bulbs or £19.99 for 12.
Since the first seed catalogue was published in 1855, Thompson & Morgan has grown to become one of the UK’s largest Mail Order Seed and Plant companies. Through the publication of our catalogues and the operation of our award-winning website, Thompson & Morgan is able to provide home gardeners with the very best quality products money can buy.
Launching a premium range in a crowded market brings risk, but Thompson & Morgan’s first move into the compost arena has paid off for the mail order specialist and its customers!
Lugging hefty bags of compost to and from the car is now a thing of the past, as is poor quality. Thompson & Morgan customers can now add the incredi-range to their mail order baskets to get the very best from their seeds, plugs and instant impact plants.
The incredi-range includes incredicompost® – a professional grade reduced-peat blend, incredibloom® – a controlled slow release granular fertiliser for ornamental plants, and incredicrop® controlled release feed for edible plants. The range puts reliability back into the compost market, following customer disappointment with existing blends in recent years. Better still, both unique feeds promise 400% more flowers, fruit and veg from a single use.
‘My flowers have never grown so tall we have to watch how we open the bedroom window. What more can I say about this product it is incredible’ – Harry Cook, Customer
As with standard blends, incredicompost® comes with added wetting agent and fertiliser to ensure good growth. What sets it out from the crowd is a pre-packed sachet of incredibloom® in every bag, for mixing in at planting time, ensuring continued strong, healthy growth for 7+ months – a little goes a long way! Separating the feed into a sachet prevents degradation (leading to lack of nutrients for plants) and ‘overheating’ while bagged in storage, which can lead to root scorch when put to use in containers – a common problem with other pre-mixed blends.
Thompson & Morgan Horticultural Director, Paul Hansord, says feedback from customers is really positive and that sales speak for themselves: “Uptake in the first year has outsold our wildest dreams – we’ve sold 65 tons of the fertilisers alone. From what customers are sending us, its going to be a hard job picking a winner for our Plants for Life Competition.”
Customers can send images of plants grown using the incredirange for a chance to win £100 worth of plants every year for life. T&Cs can be found at www.thompson-morgan.com/competitions
A brand new website has been launched, giving sole focus on the range and what it offers the home gardener. As well as technical data and product information, a gallery of customer feedback and images is being built alongside a growing list of retail stockists. Visit www.incredi-range.com for information.
Since the first seed catalogue was published in 1855, Thompson & Morgan has grown to become one of the UK’s largest Mail Order Seed and Plant companies. Through the publication of our catalogues and the operation of our award-winning website, Thompson & Morgan is able to provide home gardeners with the very best quality products money can buy.
Some like it hot, but others not! Thompson & Morgan Pepper Meter makes it easy to find chili heat.
The Scoville scale has been the standard measure of chili heat for over a hundred years, but a rating of 750,000 or 1million+ SHU doesn’t mean much to the average gardener, other than its likely to blow your socks off! Looking to simplify things and give customers a better informed choice, Thompson & Morgan has rated all pepper varieties in its range on a simple 0-10 scale, from Cool & Sweet right up to Explosive!
The UK is fast becoming a nation of hot heads when it comes to greenhouse and windowsill growing. Driven by changing taste buds and a desire for more exotic cuisine, Thompson & Morgan has noticed a steady rise in the number of gardeners trying their hand at growing chilies and peppers in the last 10 years. Easy to grow and providing a bountiful supply of fruits for fresh use, freezing and drying, they are becoming a common site in UK kitchens and greenhouses.
Chilies are the perfect companion plants for growing alongside greenhouse tomatoes, thriving under the same conditions and feeding regime. And for those without the luxury of a greenhouse there are many varieties that remain compact for indoor growing while still producing hundreds of fruits per plant, making them a very worthwhile addition to a sunny windowsill. Many varieties can also be grown outside in a sunny spot to great success.
T&M Horticultural Director Paul Hansord said: “For some growers it’s all about the kudos of growing the hottest varieties they can get their hands on – often far too hot to eat! But many gardeners are looking for a better culinary experience to suit their tastes – not many people really want to add the world’s hottest chili varieties to their dishes. Our Pepper Meter allows customers to make a quick informed decision on the varieties to grow to suit their tastes, helping them get it right from the word go.”
Display cards explaining the new Pepper Meter will hang alongside the Thompson & Morgan chili offering at garden centres in 2016, and vibrant redesigned packets will each clearly show the variety’s heat rating for quick and easy selection.
Since the first seed catalogue was published in 1855, Thompson & Morgan has grown to become one of the UK’s largest Mail Order Seed and Plant companies. Through the publication of our catalogues and the operation of our award-winning website, Thompson & Morgan is able to provide home gardeners with the very best quality products money can buy.
Recent Comments