Thompson’s choice
IN 1855, William Thompson, from Ipswich, Suffolk, started a business selling plant seeds, operating from rooms behind his father’s bakery. He prided himself on offering a wide range of newly introduced plant species and, when he started his company, he wrote: “Were we so unfortunate as to be compelled to limit our collection of plants to two genera, we think we should, without hesitation, select for one of these, the penstemon”. At that time, he would have known maybe just 20 penstemon species and a handful of hybrids.
Clearly, he could envisage a bright future for them. The other genus he would have chosen, along with penstemon, was salvia.
William’s business grew into the international Thompson & Morgan seed firm.