by Thompson & Morgan | Oct 6, 2015 | Gardening Posts
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.
The Thompson & Morgan horticultural team produces a wealth of content around gardening and food production. 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.
by Thompson & Morgan | Sep 4, 2015 | Chilli Blog - with Kris Collins, Gardening Posts
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.
The Thompson & Morgan horticultural team produces a wealth of content around gardening and food production. 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.
by Thompson & Morgan | Sep 4, 2015 | Gardening News, Gardening Posts
The easy way to add a taste of Japan to sushi, salads and sandwiches
We’ve brought a new distinctive taste to a salad favourite. Traditional rocket types offer a hot peppery flavour, our exclusive Wasabi Rocket adds a taste of Japan with the unique warm flavour of the wasabi root in quick and easy to grow salad leaf form. A small wasabi root can cost upwards of £10, takes two years to reach maturity, and is very particular about the conditions in which it grows – it hates hot, dry summers and cold, wet winters.
Our Wasabi Rocket can be harvested as a baby leaf within weeks of sowing or left to mature into a full leaf alongside your cut and come again salad varieties – either way the flavour is just as distinctive. Sow every couple of weeks through the season, and grow on the windowsill through autumn and winter for a cheap year round supply. Previously only available in select supermarket salad bags, be the first to grow this wonderful new salad addition in the UK – top chefs are already raving about it!
Add a kick to salads, sandwiches and sushi, or use it with any dish that requires horseradish or wasabi paste. You’ll be amazed at how much flavour is packed into each leaf.
Read more and buy your wasabi rocket seeds.
The Thompson & Morgan horticultural team produces a wealth of content around gardening and food production. 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.
by Thompson & Morgan | Jul 23, 2015 | Gardening Posts
Well hello there. I am Helen and I am new at gardening. Very new. Newer than Newton from Stoke Newington on his way to Newton Abbott. So new.
In my capacity as an ultra newbie I will be guest blogging for Thompson & Morgan. I am now your go to absolute-beginner-novice-don’t-know-what-I’m-talking-about gardener. Everyone needs one of those.
This is me being new and enthusiastic
If you’re new too I’m so glad you’re here! We can be like the loners who bond over the buffet at an event where we don’t know anyone else; discussing the crudités and the cheese and such like. Except in this instance our topics of conversation will be more soil based.
It’s hard not to let the enthusiasm take over when you’re at the starting line isn’t it?! As one of the world’s newest owners of a garden in glorious London I’m like a pushy mum. This garden is my first baby and I have totally over ambitious visions for it that culminate in my mind in some sort of mythical, magical Enid Blyton inspired/Secret Garden level of bloom-tastic wonder. Then I have to remind myself that I am a total novice with a lonnnnng way to go.
The first thing to acknowledge here is that, in the words of Fawlty Towers’ Manuel: ‘I know nothing!!’
I do not know my Perennials from my Alpines (maybe they are the same thing? I don’t know. All I know is they sound posh and I like it) nor do I know why it insists on being called a trowel and not just ‘a small spade’. In fact I have a feeling my foray into gardening for the first time in my life is going to be a little Fawlty Towers-esque.
For instance; I have only owned my garden for approximately 6 weeks and, already, one pretty daisy plant (acquired from the wholly inspiring but scarily over crowded Chelsea Flower Show) has fallen victim to my not-so-green fingers. I think it was the lack of watering that did it… Oops. It does seem to have a few green shoots doing their best to be with us all above ground so it’s not total despair just yet. Hopefully said daisy will be one of those ‘hardy’ plants I keep hearing about and turn back into a thing of beauty instead of this light brown deep fried crispy scenario:
Now here is the trouble when you’re brand new; you know nothing and it’s really hard to admit you know nothing. If I’m being honest all I’ve ever actually known about gardening is that lawn mowers exist – and (mostly) dads use them – that honeysuckle smells really nice and that sitting in a garden to eat your breakfast is one of life’s simplest pleasures.
The designing, preparing, planting, growing and tending to bit is the big mystery. How exciting that you can join me at the very beginning of this journey of discovery!
I thought it might be useful at the starting line to share my three realisations for anyone else in my position. We really know nothing do we? But it’s OK.
1) The guilt factor
You kill stuff. You don’t really know what it is or what to do with it so you do the wrong thing (eg ‘look at me! I’m ‘pruning’! Oh I’m so clever to be ‘pruning’! I’m so gardeney. Wow I’m really channelling The Titchmarsh here! Look at me go!’) and inevitably you go too far or it’s the wrong time of year and you destroy it in the process. It’s OK. It’s just a garden. Stuff will grow back.
This is me looking positively dangerous with a pair of Secutures (also known as garden scissors. Is that how you spell them?)
2) The loss of the concept of time
When you plant stuff one day and you wake up the next morning like it’s Christmas and you’re six and you think it’s all going to have burst forth over night and you skip to the garden because your beds will surely be filled with colourful delights!… and then you get there and realise most stuff takes weeks if not months if not years to really become anything. It’s OK. Have patience little one.
This is me being impatient with my minuscule hydrangea
3) The ‘I know what you mean’ nod
When you mention to a friend or family member or just acquaintance that you have been doing a spot of gardening and they jump in with their latest warning on how their perennials are just ‘out of CONTROL this year ho ho ho’ and you just nod sagely as if to agree but you’re thinking ‘perennial? What’s that?’ Its OK. They probably don’t really know what a perennial is either.
This is me wondering whether this is a Perennial…
So it’s time for us beginners to just be beginners!
We wander around B&Q with our new wellies on looking like we know what we’re doing, picking up random pots and great sacks of ‘top soil’ (who knew there were so many different types of soil??) when really we are just a bunch of Manuels trying to avoid the next horticultural disaster.
I think what I’m trying to say is: don’t be scared that you don’t know anything – embrace it!! – because when we start out aren’t we all a little bit Manuel?
Follow my (slow) progress on my blog.
Helen Sorren is an actress and comedian. She also presents on Hoxton Radio every Saturday 10am-12pm Follow on Twitter @helensorren
The Thompson & Morgan horticultural team produces a wealth of content around gardening and food production. 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.
by Thompson & Morgan | Jul 17, 2015 | Gardening Posts
Chelsea Plant of the Year 2012, ‘Illumination Pink’, has been renamed to recognise the work of its creator, Thompson & Morgan plant breeder Charles Valin.
Foxglove ‘Illumination Pink’ has taken the gardening world by storm since its launch in 2012. Unusual blooms, repeat flowering and multiple stems keep this unusual cross-breed high on the Thompson & Morgan best seller list. But it has left the experts scratching their heads when it comes to classification.
In recognition of the work carried out by Charles Valin in creating this unique cross as part of Thompson & Morgan’s breeding programme, James Armitage, Principal Scientist of Horticultural Taxonomy at RHS Garden Wisley, has announced Digitalis x valinii as the correct botanical naming convention for all existing and future crosses of D. purpurea and D. canariensis. He said: “The clever use of island species in the creation of D. x valinii has paid rich dividends.”
Lauded as a revolutionary hybrid by RHS taxonomists, it was felt that a reclassification was needed to distinguish all present and future crosses of the UK native Digitalis purpurea and the exotic D. canariensis, while smoothing out confusion over previous naming conventions for its Canary Island parent. 19th Century taxonomists named the Canary Island foxglove Isoplexis canariensis in 1829, recognising its morphological and behavioural differences compared to others in the Digitalis genus, namely a shrubby and candelabra habit and differences in petal shape and flower positioning on the stem.
Modern studies have since indicated that the two genera should not be treated separately, and in 2012 the RHS recognised all Isoplexis as Digitalis, just as the first commercial cross was launched to the public by Thompson & Morgan. This reclassification outdated early naming suggestions for ‘Illumination Pink’ and its sister lines, such as Digiplexis, while Digitalis ‘Illumination Pink’ just didn’t do justice to the work involved in creating it. It’s common for new cultivars to be named after people, but to have a species named in your honour doesn’t happen very often and was more common in the era of the great plant hunters. Charles said: “I am humbled and grateful to receive such recognition for my work on Digitalis. Having a plant named after you certainly doesn’t happen every day!”
During his time with Thompson & Morgan, Charles has developed over 40 unique creations across a wide range of genera, while overseeing the seed and plant mail order specialist’s unique breeding programme. View a full list of Charles’ currently available introductions, but key lines alongside ‘Illumination Pink’ include the dwarf Buddleja ‘Buzz’ Series, the world’s first black double petunia ‘ Black Night’ and Cosmos ‘Cupcakes’. Several of Charles’ latest creations are being launched in the Thompson & Morgan 2016 Spring Catalogue. Watch this space!
The Thompson & Morgan horticultural team produces a wealth of content around gardening and food production. 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.
