UP AND DOWN AT A GLANCE

GOING UP

Lilly Gomm

– a debutant Chelsea designer. The pressure is on her to win a record 74th gold for Hillier.

Mark Gregory – on TV and all over Chelsea, where he’s working on his 99th garden and his second for Welcome to Yorkshire.

Impatiens

– the downy mildew-resistant Imara from Syngenta will be everywhere after launching exclusively with B&Q in 2018.

Woodland gardens – not that they suit most people’s plots. Andy Sturgeon (M&G) and Sarah Eberle (Forestry Commission) at, inevitably, Chelsea. Plant a tree in 2019 – the Government has proposals for greener developments and plans to plant 11 million trees between 2017-2022.

Podcasts – the on-demand radio broadcasts are everywhere and some are actually quite good, such as The Garden

Log and Roots and All.

Garden apps

– such as Smart Garden and Garden Tags, are taking off.

Grow your own – the drought in 2018 affected yields. Potatoes, for instance, were 12 per cent down in 2018 with a subsequent price rise, because of dry weather.

Anniversaries – there are at least 10 being celebrated at Chelsea displays.

Learning at gardens

– examples include the

Beth Chatto Education Trust, a registered charity, with education through gardening one of its aims.

Fruit and veg baby names

– calling your girl (or boy?) Kale is up 35 per cent, and Kiwi (40 per cent).

Garden art – the Garden Museum is building on the success of its Cedric Morris exhibition with an Ivon Hitchens show for 2019.

GOING DOWN

Lupins

– overkill at Chelsea in 2018.

Flower shows – RHS London shows are ending after more than a century. The last should be in April. The shows will move to

RHS gardens at Hyde Hall and Wisley. Garden Show Ireland in Antrim and Ascot Spring Garden Show (which hoped to return in 2020) are also skipping 2019.

Perennial meadows – just as we thought they’d peaked, Nigel Dunnett’s latest book, out in March, will reveal how he came up with a simplified approach to the “natural” look at London’s Barbican.

Blackcurrants – milder winters are affecting yields of this most English of fruit which needs chilling to break dormancy. Stock up on Ribena now.