From salt and wind-tolerant sunflowers to perfumed snapdragons
One season may be ending but we’re already looking to the next, with the announcement of new flower seeds from Thompson & Morgan. Of this pick of five, two are already award-winners – check out the catalogue for even more new blooms. Read more about T&M’s new vegetable seeds.
Sunflower Beaches Mix (Helianthus deblis, HA)
Ideal for growing in coastal gardens and other challenging locations. Unlike other sunflowers, these bushy plants are fast-growing, spreading by runners to anchor themselves in the ground, with flexible stems to help prevent snapping.
It boasts great drought tolerance, along with resistance to salt spray, sea winds and poor, dry soil. Tough but graceful, Beaches Mix will produce lots of showy yellow flowers with dark centres from July to October. Each bloom measures approximately 7cm in diameter. They are a magnet for pollinators and with elegant, elongated stems, Beaches Mix makes a superb cut flower.
Sow: March to June, flowers: July to October. Height x spread: 1.5m x 60cm, £1.99 for 40 seeds.
New flower seeds – Zinnia Macarenia (Z. elegans, HHA)
A favourite flower of the Aztecs, Macarenia sizzles with bold Mexican colour and makes long-lasting cut flowers. A Fleuroselect award winner it has big, fully double blooms measuring up to 7cm across. Its scarlet petals appear dipped in gold, offering a dazzling display.
Sow: April to June, plant out: May to June, flowers: July to October. Height and spread: 50-75cm x 50cm, £2.99 for 50 seeds.
Antirrhinum Sweet Duet F1 (Snapdragon, HHA)
Offering improved double blooms and flower size compared to other varieties, coupled with a delicate fragrance. Sweet Duet comes in a pretty palette of colours – peach, salmon, deep-red and apple blossom-pink flowers. Plants are vigorous and strongly branched. Suitable for autumn and spring sowing, grow in borders or patio containers.
Sow: January to March, flowers: May to August. Height and spread: 40cm x 35cm, £3.99 for 20 seeds.
New flower seeds – Nasturtium Alaska Salmon (Tropaeolum majus, HHA)
This nasturtium produces soft salmon-coloured flowers on compact plants, with attractive marbled foliage. Awarded an RHS Award of Garden Merit, this pretty plant will grow happily in beds and containers with a non-trailing habit.
Sow: March to May, flowers: June to September. Height and spread: 40cm, £2.99 for 25 seeds.
Rudbeckia Kokardas (R. hirta, coneflower, black-eyed Susan, HHA)
Forming short plants reaching just 40cm high, each Rudbeckia Kokardas produces more than 20 huge flowers measuring up to 14cm across. Praised in recent RHS garden trials, Kokardas has bicolour blooms of golden yellow with a brown halo surrounding each dark eye. Ideal for beds, borders and containers, this rudbeckia flowers right up until the first frosts and shows excellent weather tolerance.
Sow: February to May, flowers: June to October. Height and spread: 40cm, £2.49 for 100 seeds.
For more details and to see other new flowers in the range, visit www.thompson-morgan.com.
