An impressive number of plants have been entered into this year’s Chelsea Plant of the Year competition. From a list of 37, just 20 have been shortlisted now and will be displayed on stand GP10 in the Great Pavilion during the show. In the Top 20 are:
- Streptocarpus ‘Harlequin Lace’ (pictured above) have large lobelia-blue flowers and Streptocarpus ‘Sweet Melys’ Nurseries (said to be the first streptocarpus with a strong scent) from Dibley’s Nurseries (GPD10).
- Tillandsia ‘Samantha’ from Every Picture Tells a Story (GPB8) has pale-green-pink candle inflorescence.
- Nepenthes ‘Linda’ from Hampshire Carnivorous Plants (GPF2) has large colourful pitchers.
- Leucanthemum × superbum ‘Freak!’ with its repeat-flowering throughout the summer and repeat-flowering Osteospermum ‘In The Pink’ from Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants (GP16).
- Choisya × dewitteana ‘Aztec Gold’ from Hillier Nurseries (GPD13) has a bushy habit and aromatic, golden-yellow foliage.
- Lilium ‘Bethan Evans’ (Martagon) is hardy to -35°c and strongly-perfumed Lilium ‘Cream Tea’ from HW Hyde & Son.
- Hyacinthus orientalis ‘Royal Navy’ from J S Pennings “De Bilt” (GPF16) has deep blue flowers with double florets.
- Rosa The Queen’s Jubilee Rose (‘Beajubilee’) from Peter Beales Roses GPD16 has fragrant blooms that are white-blushed with peach.
- Heuchera ‘Circus’ from Plantagogo is mainly grown for its colour-changing foliage which goes from deep green to light green and then silver green with clear green rim with purple veining which deepens in the spring. In autumn the foliage turns pink and which deepens in colour through the winter.(GPH13).
- Being grown in the Generation Gardens (GPD1-4) are:
- Dianthus barbatus Green Trick (‘Temarisou’) that has flowers the size of tennis balls, tropical-looking Digitalis Illumination Pink (‘Tmdgfp001’), and Digitalis ‘Silver Cub’ with multiple flower stems bearing white blooms, produced from a rosette of silvery-white, woolly leaves, and Petunia × atkinsiana Gioconda Series, which is a free-spreading plant bred to withstand temperatures of -5°c.
- Clematis ‘Shikoo’ from Thorncroft Clematis (GPD6) with double, blue early flowers.
- Aeonium ‘Cornish Tribute’ and Aeonium ‘Logan Rock’ from Trewidden Nursery (GPC25) both have a compact form making them ideal for pot and container growing. They are also drought tolerant.
- Dianthus Memories (‘WP11 Gwe04’) from Whetman Pinks (GPB14) with its white flowers and exceptionally strong spicy perfume.
