Since writing my last blog for Thompson & Morgan about the plants on trial at driftwood earlier in the year, the garden has moved on at a pace and a half! We have already had 2 public open days, one for the National Gardens Scheme and one for a local trail which I organise for the local Mayor. The garden has already seen over 400 visitors in 2014, with 14 open days to go! Amazingly, this year, driftwood has appeared as a 4-page feature in both an English national gardening magazine and one in France too! Sussex Life Magazine listed it as one of the top 25 gardens to see in Sussex for 2014 too which was a real accolade! Full details of events and open days can be found on my website.
So, what’s happening in the garden right now, with regard to the Thompson & Morgan products I have either purchased or trialling?
Here is a view over the pond in June with the clump of dazzling Foxglove ‘Illumination Pink’ in the foreground, a stunning plant I bought last year, which has just gone berserk this summer as you can see!
Foxglove “Illumination Pink”
We have several plants that came as part of the trial in 2013, which are doing really well again this season. The Alstroemeria Peruvian Tree Lilly is amazing in the pot I planted them in last spring! I was recently on Ideal World Shopping with Michael Perry via a phone link promoting the product! The colours are quite amazing and a real eye catcher in the garden for visitors, many of whom have been impressed and said they would be purchasing them.
Alstroemeria Peruvian Tree Lilly
Another plant doing well is the Rose ‘Garden Party’ that I planted, which has already produced many pretty small flowers as you can see! The Osteospermum ‘Tresco Purple’ from last autumn has also come in to its own in the courtyard garden under the apple tree with dozens of pretty flowers appearing in recent weeks!
Rose ‘Garden Party’ and Osteospermum ‘Tresco Purple’
Some of the real stunner’s this year however, have been the petunias we have been trialling and you can see how amazing they look! Some of the most talked about are the ‘Crazytunia Green with Envy’, ‘Preppy Cerise’ and ‘Preppy Blue’.
The stunning Gazenia ‘Sunbather Tikal’ is another of this year’s trial plants and the flowers that are starting to come out are real eye catchers too!
Gazenia ‘Sunbather Tikal’
The Peruvian Tree lilies which started off as 3 bulbs and now, in the same pot, are producing 7 stems of beautiful blooms.
It is lovely to be able to grow some of these new plants in the garden and be amongst the first to see how they develop and especially to hear the comments from visitors.
More to come later in the year!
Geoff
Geoff Stonebanks was very lucky to be able to retire early from 30 years in Royal Mail back in 2004. He had 3 different careers with them first as a caterer, then manager of a financial analysis team and finally as an Employee Relations Manager and Personnel Manager. He sold up and moved with his partner to Bishopstone, near Seaford in East Sussex in 2004 and now spends all his time gardening and fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support. Using his multi award-winning garden, featured on Gardeners’ World on BBC TV and finalist in Gardeners’ World Magazine Garden of the Year 2016, he’s raised £164,500 for various charities in 12 years, £109,000 of that for Macmillan. In his spare time, he is also Publicity Officer for the National Garden Scheme in East & Mid Sussex. In 2023, Geoff was also crowned one of the 500 Coronation Champions.