• Home
  • Features
  • Talks
  • Learn with me

Sally Nex

~ Sustainable food growing

Sally Nex

Tag Archives: new varieties

Hampton Court in pictures: New varieties

12 Saturday Jul 2014

Posted by sallynex in new plants

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

agapanthus, cotinus, crocosmia, dahlias, eryngium, Hampton Court Flower Show, new varieties

hcfs_newvariety2

Agapanthus ‘Blueberry Cream’ from the Hoyland Plant Centre

hcfs_newvariety4

Crocosmia ‘Chrome Spray’ from Trecanna Nursery

hcfs_newvariety3

Eryngium ‘Neptune’s Gold’ from Hardy Plants: saw this one at Chelsea and still can’t make up my mind about it. That yellow foliage just looks… ill, somehow.

hcfs_newvariety1

Cotinus ‘Ruby Glow’ from Hilliers, celebrating their 150th anniversary.

hcfs_newvariety5

Dahlia ‘Bloom 50’, another new variety commemorating a special anniversary, this time the 50th birthday of the RHS’s Britain in Bloom

Of sumptuous sweetpeas…

12 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by sallynex in seeds

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Mr Fothergills, new varieties, seed companies, sweet peas

Last week I trundled around the North Circular at slightly less than walking pace (being a country bumpkin these days I’d forgotten to think this through: Olympic Lanes plus standard rush hour traffic equals journey demanding nightmarish levels of endurance) on my way to East Anglia. It took me four hours to get about 20 miles.
But anyway: I put all that behind me as soon as I walked onto the modest but treasure-filled trials grounds at Mr Fothergill’s (also home to Johnsons Seeds and DT Browns, so you get three for the price of one, so to speak).
I was there on my annual pilgrimage to East Anglia (where for reasons buried in the mists of horticultural lore most of the seed companies seem to be based) to get a sneak peek at this year’s new varieties.
There are dozens of them, too: the results of years of labouring behind the scenes to select flowers and veg which are just that little bit different. This year there were mini cabbages (container gardening is a rich seam for breeders), a handsome stripey courgette that hadn’t even got a name yet, and several of the new long, pointed sweet peppers which look more like big chillies.
Courgette ‘TZ 9308’
And there were sweet peas. Row upon row of them, brilliant with colour and a breathtaking sight. Mr Fothergills has declared 2013 the Year of the Sweet Pea and it’s introducing 25 sweet pea varieties to its range including six new ones.
They are quite sumptuous to look at, too, with lots of the deep clarets and burgundies I find so ravishing. My only quibble is that the breeders seem to have left most of the scent behind them on the lab bench: most of these are somewhat fragrant, but it’s a pale shadow of the rich scent of a ‘Cupani’ or ‘Matucana’. Perhaps they’d be best grown with a few of the old favourites threaded among them, just so you don’t forget what a sweet pea ought to smell like.
I adore sweet peas: this year mine have been something of a disappointment (pesky slugs – again) but luckily the school garden I’m currently looking after has two big wigwams of them which nobody’s picking at the moment, it being summer holidays, except me.
It won’t be long before I’m planting next year’s seeds, in loo roll inners, to overwinter in the coldframe. This has been pretty much a foolproof method for me for years now: the overwintered seedlings don’t like being moved around and are a little sulky at first but get going eventually, and I back them up with a second sowing (direct) in about March or April to flower well into summer.
So if you’re poised with your box full of compost-packed loo rolls just itching to get the seeds in – here are a few new pretties to whet your appetite.

‘Beaujolais’
One of the best colours of them all, I thought, though I do have a little thing about this particular shade of flower. Lovely big plant with sturdy straight stems: very little scent though
‘Chelsea Centenary’
Guess what the big fuss is going to be all about next year? You couldn’t really have a Year of the Sweet Pea coinciding with the 100th birthday of the world’s most famous flower show without naming one of your new varieties for it. It’s a multiflora, producing lots of blooms on the same stem, and pretty in a lavender sort of way.
‘Eclipse’
An old-ish variety bred in 1974 and the perfect cutting flower, with long, straight stems and a good clear colour. It was a little more perfumed, too.
‘Fire and Ice’
I liked the two-tone effect you get with this one: mauve, pink, cream and the occasional flower with say a dark purple edging to the petal.
‘Juliet’
I found this charming: flowers the colour of clotted cream just splashed with the most subtle of pink tinges. And hallelujah: it smelled wonderful. Very spicy, perhaps too rich for those who like their sweet peas sweet, but I loved it.
‘Wiltshire Ripple’
My prize for the most intriguing colouring, with flowers the colour of bruised plums. No scent, though.
‘Air Warden’
This one shouted to be noticed with those bright cerise pink flowers: a plant to leap out from the border and demand attention. A little perfume to this one, too.
‘Almost Black’
Mmm…. just look at that colouring. Sex on a stem: sultry, sumptuous, gorgeous. I do love a black flower.
‘Pandemonium’
Last but not least, another of the new varieties: large flowers with those raspberry-ripple blooms gambolling around the ramrod-straight stems.

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • September 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • May 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006

Categories

  • book review
  • chicken garden
  • children gardening
  • climate change
  • container growing
  • cutting garden
  • design
  • education
  • end of month view
  • exotic edibles
  • France
  • Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
  • garden design
  • garden history
  • garden words
  • gardening without plastic
  • Gardens of Somerset
  • giveaways
  • greenhouse
  • herbs
  • kitchen garden
  • landscaping
  • my garden
  • new plants
  • new veg garden
  • news
  • overseas gardens
  • Painting Paradise
  • pick of the month
  • plant of the month
  • pond
  • poultry
  • pruning
  • recipes
  • seeds
  • self sufficiency
  • sheep
  • shows
  • sustainability
  • this month in the garden
  • Uncategorized
  • unusual plants
  • videos
  • walk on the wild side
  • wildlife gardening
  • wordless wednesday

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy