Go colourful in your beds and borders this year!
Image: Alstroemeria ‘Summer Collection’ from T&M
Jazz up your borders this summer with two new beautiful bedding plants that really deliver the wow factor. Available as plug plants or jumbo plugs, these sizzling summer bedding plants are heard to beat for spectacular performance and excellent staying power.
Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’
These fiery blooms make excellent cut flowers too
Image: Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’ from T&M
Looking for a solid summer of flowers? Peruvian lilies (alstroemeria) are the perfect answer, providing a striking border of fiery blooms in colours ranging from yellow and orange through to bright red and deep purple. Throwing up more than 50 stems over a period of five to six months, alstroemeria are hardy down to -10C. Tough and resilient, they’re untroubled by pests and diseases!
Plant alstroemeria ‘Summer Collection’ in drifts in your beds and borders for maximum impact, or pot up a compact variety like ‘Valley’ collection in giant containers for a stylish patio feature. Remember to pull the flower stems rather than cut them to encourage the production of even more blooms.
Laurentia ‘Indigo Stars’
Laurentia produce electric blooms all summer long
Image: Laurentia ‘Indigo Stars’ from T&M
Seldom available in garden centres, laurentia (also known as isotoma) is one of summer’s best kept secrets. Laurentia plants are native to Australian scrubland, which gives you an idea of how hardy, robust and drought-tolerant they can be. They’ve had to grow up the hard way! Plant these pretty star-shaped flowers in dry areas of the garden for bright colour and thousands of fragrant blooms from June through to October.
Use laurentia ‘Indigo stars’ to highlight darker areas of the garden – its luminescent indigo coloured petals almost glow in the dark. Pair with a white-flowered variety like ‘Avant-Garde White’ to make your display really stand out!
We hope you’ve been inspired to try these spectacular flowering plants. Share your displays with us on our Facebook or Twitter – we love to hear from you! And for more bedding plant tips and advice, visit our bedding hub page.
couldyou please tell me when you will have the 12 plug plants laurentia indigo stars back in stock
Hello – I’ve passed your details to our customer care team. Someone will be in touch with you shortly to help you.
All the best
Sue
Bought alstroemeria indian summer about 5 years ago and moved the pot to Devon two years ago. Fabulous display every year.
I live in Colorado and planted Alstromeria for the first time last year 2016. I planted the seeds in soiless mixture, after the warm period of three weeks I placed them down in the basement under a fresh air vent for about three weeks then one day I noticed four sprouts. Left them in the basement all Spring and brought them out in summer. Then around September I got my first bloom. I had four plants of different colors. I took them in the house and watched as the shoots started to die, YANKED out thes shoots .Today Jan 16 I havevbfour new 2 inch shoots. Ernie
I have grown these plug plants, only available as plugs from T&M, for many years. They have never failed me whatever the weather. I will be ordering them again for 2014.
Thank you for your comment Dorothy, I’m delighted to hear that you’ve had so much success!
Got some laurentia from t &m this year. Cold spell set them back early on in cold greenhouse but they are outside now in patio pots and moving well, await the flowers with anticipation
Hi John, thanks for your comment. Great to hear that your laurentia plants are doing well. Best wishes, Rebecca
I successfully grew a packet of these from seed bought from you guys last year. They were so lovely that I am over-wintering some and hoping they’ll produce again this summer. They had many admirers.
Any more unusual plants/seeds to recommend?
Pearse
Tonnes.. keep updated on developments through this blog or facebook.com/planthunter.uk