Discover the latest plants
By Graham Rice
New plants are always a special feature at the show, and this year is no exception. Roses, clematis and perennials dominate, but there’s a wide range of exciting new plants on offer.
Taylor’s Clematis Nursery are showing three new clematis created by clematis wizard Raymond Evison. My favourite is Shimmer (‘Evipo028’) which reaches just 1.8m/6ft in height and flowers all summer. The flowers open with a slightly purplish tint then fade to a cool blue and the resulting harmony of shades is delightful. Pruning? Just cut the whole plant back to 15cm/6in in spring.
Another, rather different new clematis from Raymond Evison can be seen on the Girlguiding UK Centenary Garden. Clematis Guiding Promise (‘Evipo53’) reaches just 1.2m/4ft in height. With slender, rather waved, deep purple blue petals the striking flowers keep coming all summer. Allow it to scramble over a low shrub or let it sprawl as ground cover. Prune hard in spring.
The new line of eremurus (foxtail lilies) from Jacques Amand features tall and unusually slender spikes of flowers. In the back of the border they’ll look delightful – but they have shallow roots so don’t plant other perennials too close. Eremurus ‘Line Dance’ is white, ‘Rumba’ is orange and ‘Tap Dance’ is yellow.
Heucherella ‘Fan Dancer’, introduced by Solva Plants, is a hybrid between a Heuchera and a Tiarella and the result is a plant with large, prettily lobed leaves in bright green with a central blackish pattern and a silver overlay.
It spreads steadily and features pretty white flowers in summer.
Bowden Hostas introduced Hosta ‘Snow Mouse’ which makes the most of its small size. Derived from the popular ‘Blue Mouse Ears’, it features green, small cupped leaves, each with a creamy yellow central streak. Reaching only a few centimetres/inches in height, it also throws short spikes of pale lilac flowers in summer. This plant would look lovely as a small specimen in a terracotta pot.
Linaria purpurea ‘Mini-Me’ was named only at the show. This is a very different form of an old favourite – the purple toadflax, Linaria purpurea. It’s very dwarf, only about 45cm/18in; it’s impressively well branched, from right at the base and with side shoots all the way up the stems; and the flowers are a slightly softer colour. Rosy Hardy, of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, found it growing in her gravel.
The first Angel pelargonium was introduced in 1913, and it’s taken almost a hundred years for the first double flowered form to appear. Pelargonium ‘Quantock Double Diamond’ was spotted at Fir Trees Pelargonium Nursery about five years ago and is a lovely deep red in the centre, becoming more purplish, and with a white edge. And it develops into a beautiful dome of flowers. I’ll be going back to buy one.
Finally, the Rose of the Year ‘Joie de Vivre’. Raised by Kordes of Germany, well known for their healthy roses, and launched at the show by Mattocks Roses, this is a short Floribunda, reaching only 50cm/20in high. It will fit into any garden and can even be grown in container. Its creamy pink flowers are nicely scented and not having to spray it is a real bonus.