New Plant News

Rosy Hardy knows plants. After 40 years in commercial horticulture, 24 Chelsea Gold Medals and an RHS Master Grower Award, she could probably be forgiven for being a little blasé about the whole thing… but you might be surprised to know that she isn’t.

Here’s your weekly Hort Report - the round-up of industry news, retail insights, home gardener gossip, influencer spotlights, social media news, and so much more. Grab a warm drink, and catch up on the latest below… NEWS FLASH The BBC’s just posted a video where historian Lucy Worsley tours a garden of deadly (but you wouldn’t know it!) plants used as ‘a woman’s weapon’ in famous crime writer Agatha Christie’s novels.

I’ve been in Warsaw from 3–5 September for one of Poland’s biggest horticultural fairs, and this year there’s been a lot to get excited about… fragrant clematis, giant hydrangeas, goth gardening, unexpectedly glamorous berberis, conifers with an image refresh and even hydrangeas that want to become trees!! I was also there giving my own plant discovery presentation, so naturally I spent the rest of the fair doing what I love: nosing around stands, talking with growers, spotting oddities,...

I have just landed in Poland, for the Green is Life fair (Zieleń to Życie) - read here to see why it’s somewhere you have to be...

From water restrictions and peat uncertainty to biosecurity, climate resilience and the changing demands of clients, specialist tree production is facing pressure from almost every direction. For Eliot Barden, Operations Director at Majestic Trees, those challenges are also creating opportunities to rethink how trees are grown, selected and planted for the landscapes of the future.

Here’s your weekly Hort Report - the round-up of industry news, retail insights, home gardener gossip, influencer spotlights, social media news, and so much more. Grab a cold drink, and catch up on the latest below… NEWS FLASH North East Lincolnshire Council has installed artificial flowers in planters on Grimsby’s A180 flyover, citing drought conditions, a hosepipe ban and the high cost of watering real displays.

Visiting Iberflora in Valencia and Zieleń to Życie in Warsaw is a great way to see how differently the hort industry responds to climate. Both are major professional plant and garden shows, both celebrate innovation, and both offer an extraordinary range of new plants. But the plants that really catch the eye reflect two very different gardening realities….

It’s the best part of August, as visitors are filling up the halls at the Autumn Edition of the Plantarium|Groen-Direkt… I headed straight to the Novelties display, where it’s a great year for new and unusual plants at the show.

In my opinion, a begonia is never not eye catching. But Begonia BIG® DeluXXe® Rose Espresso from Benary does have a habit of turning heads. Dark, espresso-coloured foliage topped with vivid rose-pink flowers gives it lots of presence. It’s a reminder that begonias have come very far from the bedding plants I grew up with as a boy in the 80s, where there were plenty of mass-market tuberous varieties, and not a lot else!! Love to be the first to know about new plants?

Here’s your weekly Hort Report - the round-up of industry news, retail insights, home gardener gossip, influencer spotlights, social media news, and so much more. Grab a cold drink, and catch up on the latest below… NEWS FLASH The Barbican Conservatory is closing for three years for a major refurbishment, with 1,500 cuttings from its plant collection being given away across three adoption events.