by Bijal Mistry | Jul 29, 2013 | Customer Trial Panel, Flowers
I love petunias but with last year’s awful weather I was reluctant to grow them this year – I did not want to have another year of soggy flowers.
As usual when the T&M plants catalogue came in spring there were so many new and unusual petunias I just could not resist giving them another chance this year. And with all the sunny weather we have had recently I am so glad I did. They have gone from being bushy green leaved plants to being completely covered in flowers.
My favorites so far are the Crazytunias – ‘Wedgwood’, ‘Strawberry Cheesecake’, ‘Banoffee Pie’ and ‘Sophistica Bicolour’. It’s just amazing how Mother Nature can come up with such amazing colour combinations!
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Petunia ‘Banoffee Pie’
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Crazytunias
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Petunia ‘Sophistica Bicolour’
Petunia ‘Black Cherry’ is such an amazing colour, almost black! I am already thinking of plants I can combine with it for next year. And am also hoping it is still around at Halloween this year as it will make a spooky addition to the decorations!
Petunia ‘Black Cherry’
The other reason I love petunias is their scent. They have such an spicy exotic fragrance I don’t know why more fuss isn’t made over them. I wish someone could capture this scent in a candle as I would certainly buy it.
I find the best varieties for scent are Petunia ‘Tidal Wave’ and also the ‘Tumbelina’ range which have lovely double flowers as well as strong perfume. This year I have managed to find 16 different varieties of ‘Tumbelina’ and as a result had to invest in a new hanging basket stand to hang them all from. It’s still early but the stand is already looking good!
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Petunia ‘Tidal Wave’
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Tumbelina basket stand
Mesembryanthemums love the sun and the flowers are so jewel like. The leaves of these plants are so unusual too. They look like they have ice crystals all over them.
Mesembryanthemum
I am a huge fan of exotic plants and this year I have grown schizanthus ‘Dwarf Bouquet Mixed’ from seed. The flowers are really unusual and look like mini orchids.
Schizanthus
Also earlier this year I came across some caladium bulbs at a flower show. I have seen these plants in America but never in the UK. They were potted into pots and kept in the conservatory. The leaves are like stained glass windows and are so paper thin you can almost see through them. They are so fast growing which is really surprising, considering how little chlorophyll is actually in the leaf. I am searching everywhere for more varieties. If anyone out there knows where I can get some from please let me know!
Caladium
Well that’s all for now. Need to get back outside and continue watering!
As a member of Thompson & Morgan’s customer trial panel, Bijal Mistry tests plants, bulbs and seeds in his own garden on the outskirts of Manchester. He has won several awards and is happiest tending to his garden, especially the begonias and poinsettias!
Learn more about Bijal on the Thompson & Morgan blog here.
by Rebecca Tute | Jul 29, 2013 | Gardening News
Caroline Broome has been busy growing dahlias, petunias, fuchsias and many other plants as part of our customer trial panel. Read on for her latest update.
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Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
by Joy Gough | Jul 17, 2013 | Customer Trial Panel
Katsura tree and clematis repens – an update
Leaves turning from green to pink
Katsura Tree
Two katsura trees 20″ tall arrived last August. I potted them up in 50% ericaceous and 50% multi-purpose compost and kept them in the shade in the greenhouse to give the roots a chance to establish.
I re-potted them at the beginning of March this year into large terracotta pots when the new foliage was green. It’s now turning to dark pink.
Getting taller and prettier every day
These trees are getting taller and prettier – they’re now 4′ tall with heart-shaped leaves. I am keeping them in pots at the moment, so that I can move them around the garden to anywhere there is a space to fill.
There have been no pests, diseases or shrivelled leaves. The plants like semi shade or full sun.
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Clematis repens
Clematis repens, the Twinkle Bell clematis
I have grown clematis in pots before, but these are now my favourites.
When they arrived I potted them into larger pots in multipurpose compost and vermiculite, 3″ deeper to stop clematis wilt. Once they were growing well I potted them into equal parts leaf mould, compost and vermiculite.
These plants don’t have any tendrils, so I have tied them into a frame and the flowers hang down like raindrops.
They are green in bud and open into 1″ bright yellow bell-shaped flowers. Even though they look delicate, the petals are very thick and waxy and totally different to the usual clematis.
Next year I am going to try them in hanging baskets and let the flowers just hang over the edges, I can’t wait.
Joy Gough joined Thompson & Morgan’s trials team in 2011 and tests plants and seeds in her own garden in Wiltshire. Learn more about Joy’s gardening journey on the Thompson & Morgan blog.
by Rebecca Tute | Jul 3, 2013 | Customer Trial Panel
Customer trials – update from Caroline Broome
Caroline has been sending us regular updates with photos of her trial products, but as we’re a little late adding them to the blog, please note that references to planting out times may be a bit out of date. We do apologise and will add updates more promptly from now on!
May/June 2013
Cornus Winter Flame is small, but showing good colour, now in the border. We shall see!
Anemone The Governor has enormous flowers only one or two were in flower, but these have survived being in bud during the snow.
Anemone The Governor
Daffodil Carnation Flowered Collection – the strong upright blooms are self-supporting.
Daffodil Carnation Flowered
Petunia Balcon Mixed – lovely strong plants.
And the Summer 2013 digitalis Illumination plugs are far stronger and healthier than their predecessors from last Autumn 2012.
The plastic tomato collars caused a stir at our NGS Open Day, because of the amazing results they produced deterring slugs & snails from our ligularia. And the good old tree lilies from trials 4 yrs ago are over 6ft tall!
Tomato auto-waterers used as a slug deterrent
We were on the BBC1 The One Show Tuesday 18th June 7pm as part of their NGS Festival Weekend feature.
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
by Rebecca Tute | Jul 3, 2013 | Customer Trial Panel
We recently introduced you to some of the members of our customer trials team, who are busy working away in their gardens growing the seeds and plants we sent them earlier in the year. We’ve had a few updates and thought it was high time we shared them with you.
Joy Gough – 11th June 2013
Well, the summer finally got here. There are tomato Gardener’s Delight and cucumber Zeina (a mini one) in the greenhouse, which all look healthy, but have not put on the growth they normally do – it’s been too cold. I sowed 8 seeds of Zeina and all of them came up – I know have 3″ cucumbers growing. My tomato Alicante plants are 18″ tall and flowering.
Tomatoes doing well
Mini cucumber Zeina
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Lettuces on the other hand were grown in the greenhouse and waited and waited to be planted out, so instead we have been eating them straight from the greenhouse. Little Gem was the first of the season and what a difference in taste – I will put some outside in the veg plot. They’re slug resistant too!
Slug-free lettuce
Spring onions, beetroot, sweetcorn, carrots and parsnips are all starting to move. In fact, all the sweetcorn Butterscotch seeds I planted came up – I’ve grown these before and friends always ask for some. I plant these in a block, rather than rows, as it helps pollination.
Sweetcorn Butterscotch
The sprouts that were started off in the greenhouse will be planted out, but they need to be netted away from pigeons and cabbage white butterflies.
The plants from T&M are now either all planted in the garden or in hanging baskets… or any other container I can reuse! Geraniums have been flowering for two weeks now all on their own, waiting for the other plants to flower. The geranium Best Red are last year’s plants that I overwintered in the greenhouse and were the first to flower.
Geranium ‘Best Red’
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
