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INDUSTRY leaders have chosen their favourite plants for next year’s gardens. More than 3,500 nurserymen, retailers, parks, landscapers and home gardeners visited the Summer Showcase at Ball Colegrave, the UK’s leading wholesale distributors of seeds and plants.
During the three-week event they were asked to choose their favourites for the year ahead from a staggering 1,300 catalogue varieties, 200 new varieties and 700 experimental products on display. They marked their choices with a blue flag, which were counted after the showcase and the winners named.
The three over-all most popular varieties were Geranium ‘Sunrise Smokey Eye’, Verbena ‘Showboat Mango Orange’ and Begonia ‘Shooting Star’. Votes were also counted from the trade and public sectors. Both named geranium ‘Sunrise Smokey Eye’ as their Number One choice, but other varieties that caught people’s eye were Delphinium ‘Aurora Blue’, Alstroemeria ‘Inticancha Passion’ and Dahlia ‘Gardenetta Fireball’.
Ball Colegrave marketing manager Stuart Lowen said: “It is interesting that the three favourite flowers all have ‘eyes’ that draw you in, and have a real ‘wow factor’. The ‘Smokey Eye White’ is very strong with its two-tone colouring and is striking and bold.
“The begonia is also very special, as it has a yolk-yellow centre but the underside of the petals also blush pink on cooler evenings. The verbena has a distinctive, rich colour and photographs of it almost don’t do it enough justice.
“It has a wonderful gradation of colour that goes deeper in its centre.”
He added “The products that received the most flags once again leaned heavily towards ‘new’ varieties and novelties, suggesting the market continues to hunger for innovative new plants.”
As for everyone in the UK horticultural world, this summer’s weather proved a challenge for Ball Colegrave as they prepared for their Summer Showcase.
“We were basically planting in dust,” said Stuart. “We were preparing beds before planting in a cloud of dust.
“Usually, we water plants for two-three weeks to settle them in, as you do at home, but this year we were having to keep watering right through the summer opening because the plants were suffering in such extreme conditions.”