Plants Of The Year Chelsea Flower Show: Foxglove On The Podium

2023 Author: Ashton Daniels | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-22 02:25

Annually at the exhibition in Chelsea there is a competition of breeding novelties "Plant of the Year" (Plant of the Year). In addition to the absolute winner, the top twenty plants are named, which are exhibited in the center of the Big Pavilion. Many of them are also present in the design of gardens, which even better demonstrate their decorative qualities and possibilities of use in the garden.

We can say that this year everything truly English won: in the garden competition - an old historical garden, and in the plant competition - a new variety of one of the most beloved plants in England, foxglove. Here she is on the podium - the absolute leader of Chelsea 2012.

Digitalis illumination pink

Foxglove canary

Digitalis "Illumination Pink" ("Tmdgfp001") has unusually beautiful bicolor peach-pink flowers. Obtained in 2006 in the Thompson & Morgan nursery by interspecific crossing of the tropical shrub Isoplexis Canary, which, like the foxglove, belongs to the family Noricidae, with the purple foxglove (Digitalis (Isoplexis) canariensis x Digitalis purpurea). The breeder noticed a great similarity between the peach-orange flowers of isoplexis and foxglove, and used them for crossing. And more recently, the close relationship of these species has been proven, and now Canarian isoplexis has been assigned to the genus of foxgloves called Canary foxglove. Foxglove "Illumination Pink" -semi-evergreen, behaving not like a biennial, like foxglove purple, but like a perennial. Forms many stems with dense multi-flowered inflorescences, blooms all summer, attracts bees. It is completely sterile, does not produce seeds, therefore it can only reproduce vegetatively. Height up to 90 cm, grows up to 45 cm wide. In Great Britain, winter hardy. The second place went to carnation - Dianthus "Memories" - with double flowers of pure white color over gray foliage, with an exceptional spicy aroma. Compact, up to 30 cm high. Blooms all summer. American selection, Whetman Pinks.

Dianthus Memories

The third place belongs to the eastern hyacinth - Hyacinthus orientalis "Royal Navy", with rich double flowers of deep dark blue color.

Hyacinthus orientalis Royal Navy Top 20 plants awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society's panel of judges are complemented by:

Two magnificent streptocarpus from Dibley's Nurseries, which annually delights visitors to the exhibition in Chelsea with their new products.

Streptocarpus " Harlequin Lace " with large, complex flowers resembling a lobelia shape. Streptocarpus "Sweet Melys "- not so expressive in color, but with a strong aroma of lily of the valley. This is the first fragrant streptocarpus of this nursery. Some producers have varieties with a scent, but not so noble. In the process of development, the flower changes color from pale-white to pinkish, it is able to bloom up to 10 months a year.

Streptocarpus Harlequin Lace

Streptocarpus Sweet Melys

Tillandsia "Samantha " from the producer of tropical plants Every Picture Tells a Story is unique with a discreet pale green-pink palette of candle inflorescences. Needs good lighting and soft water.

Tillandsia samantha

Nepenthes Linda

Nepentes - Nepenthes "Linda " from Hampshire Carnivorous Plants, - an insectivorous plant, distinguished by large, brightly colored trapping apparatus - jugs. A very stable, easy-to-grow hybrid, even for beginners. Insectivorous plants are now very popular; two large producers presented them at the exhibition. By the way, last year, the favorites also included an interesting variety of nepentes.

Two plants from Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants are plants that bloom almost all summer:

Leucanthemum x superbum “Freak! "- a daisy of hybrid origin. The emergence of the hybrid species Leucanthemum × superbum, which until recently was referred to as chrysanthemums, owes the world to the American breeder Luther Burbank, who received it in 1860. The new variety of this perennial has a compact structure and large snow-white terry baskets. The name of the variety, indicating the extravagant shape of the inflorescences, is apparently given for the dandy filamentous tuft petals that surround the center. Refers to the 5th zone of winter hardiness.

Leucanthemum x superbum Freak!

Osteospermum "In The Pink" is a new sort of osteospermum with a smooth raspberry-pink color of flowers. Native to South Africa, osteospermum is gaining popularity as a reliable long-flowering annual for sunny locations. It grows up to 20 cm in height and up to 30 cm in width.

Osteospermum In The Pink

Choisia x dewittiana " Aztec Gold " from Hillier nursery has thick and aromatic yellow foliage. Nearby were two specimens - one in bright young growths, the other - strewn with five-petalled white flowers, so that visitors had the opportunity to appreciate both the decorative foliage and the thick smell of almonds spread by the flowers. Hoisia are very popular plants in the UK and are commonly used in gardens and public spaces. Hybrid varieties Choisya × dewitteana are evergreen thermophilic plants, as a rule, winter-hardy up to -12 ^o C.

Choisya x dewitteana Aztec Gold

Lilium "Bethan Evans " is a new variety of curly lily (Marchagon), with an unusual pale pink color. Hardy up to -35 ^o C, has a strong aroma and long flowering. Obtained from HW Hyde & Son cattery.

Lilium "Cream Tea" is an OT hybrid with huge cream flowers. A fragrant, very winter-hardy lily that thrives on any fertile soil.

Lilium bethan evans

Lilium cream tea

Heucher 's "Circus" by Plantagogo exhibits multiple transformations throughout the season, comparable to a circus trick. Changes in color from dark to light green, with a silvery clear border and purple veins, most clearly manifested in the spring. In the fall, the foliage turns pink. The richest palette of shades replacing each other. Winter hardiness up to -20 … -25 ^o C.

Heuchera Circus

Rose "Beajubilee " from Peter Beales Roses refers to scrubs, has fragrant flowers that gradually change color from white to peach. The name was given to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Carnation bearded - Dianthus barbatus "Green Trick" ("Temarisou") - has unusual "fluffy" green flowers the size of a tennis ball. The cut culture, familiar to our florists, is confidently gaining the position of the most demanded component of wedding bouquets in Europe. Now available for outdoor cultivation. Does not propagate by seeds, only vegetatively.

Dianthus barbatus Green Trick

Rosa Beajubilee

Petunia series "Gioconda" (Petunia x atkinsiana Gioconda Series) - well-growing in breadth, very cold-resistant, up to -5 ° C, so it can be planted earlier in flower beds. It is presented in three colors - red, blue, white.

Petunia x atkinsiana Gioconda Series

Digitalis "Silver Cub " is another perennial foxglove with many white-flowering stems and a rosette of silvery pubescent leaves. When sown early, it blooms in the same year. Winter hardiness is not yet known.

Digitalis silver cub

Clematis "Shikoo " from Thorncroft Clematis is an early, double-flowered, deep purple-blue clematis. The central petals are somewhat lighter. It blooms twice during the summer. Suitable for container growing.

Clematis shikoo

Rounding out the top list are two new interesting aeoniums from Trewidden Nursery - Aeonium “Cornish Tribute” and Aeonium “Logan Rock”, which are compact, drought-resistant, ideal for pot and container growing. In the summer sun, they acquire a purple color of different saturation. In the first variety (up to 45 cm high) the lower leaves of the rosettes turn red, and the second (up to 75 cm high) almost completely becomes "chocolate", with the exception of the young leaves in the center of the rosettes. This is one of the first British aeoniums, selected from five hundred hybrid samples. Interestingly, the creators gave the first the name of their favorite beer, and the second - a popular local pub.