We’re thrilled to announce that the shortlist announced on Sunday afternoon for RHS Chelsea Flower Show’s Plant of the Year, includes six of our entrants. This beats last year’s tally of five plants, two of which went on to be placed first and third places in this hugely prestigious horticultural competition.
The shortlist of 20 plants will now be considered by a panel of Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) judges and the top three winning plants will be announced later today.
The six plants on the shortlist of twenty are:
Osteospermum ‘Purple Sun’ – Previously unseen colour combination of orange and pink. The pink-purple centre spreads outwards on the fade-resistant petals as the season progresses.
Nepeta ‘Neptune’ – Abundant flowers ‘rebloom’ on a compact, bushy habit; firm foliage is perfect for making tea.
Clematis ‘Kokonoe’ – Uniquely changing flower shape; flowers open as single blooms and develop into flamboyant doubles.
Osteospermum ‘Purple Sun’, Nepeta ‘Neptune’ and Clematis ‘Kokonoe’
Ajuga ‘Princess Nadia’ – Brings together the best evergreen, variegated foliage and flower spikes of the genus. Year-round interest.
Chlorophytum ‘Starlight’ – Hardy Spider Plant with the architectural appeal of an ornamental grass and the flowering performance of a bedding plant. Attractive variegated foliage and pretty white flowers.
Agapanthus ‘Fireworks’ – The best bicolour agapanthus, offering bigger blooms, better colour and more stems per plant than previous bicolour cultivars.
Ajuga ‘Princess Nadia’, Chlorophytum ‘Starlight’ and Agapanthus ‘Fireworks’
Our new product development manager, Peter Freeman said:
“We couldn’t be more pleased to hear the news that six of our plants are on the shortlist. To have placed six out of the twenty on the list is an amazing feat. We thought we’d done well last year to have five on the list, so to improve on that is incredible! Everyone at Thompson & Morgan is keeping everything crossed while we await the judges’ decision later on today.”
For updates and images from the Great Pavilion on the first day of the Chelsea Flower Show, please follow Thompson & Morgan on Twitter and Instagram.
All of Thompson & Morgan’s plant entries are featured on the Behind the Genes garden which has been devised and built in partnership with Sparsholt College in Hampshire. The garden, in the Discovery area of the Great Pavilion (Stand GPA154), offers a visually inspiring insight into the processes of plant breeding and explains techniques used to bring about improvements in plant species. To read more about our journey to Chelsea, click here.
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!)