Graham will be at the Four Oaks Trade Show in Cheshire on Wednesday 8th September only. If you wish to meet him there, please contact us in the usual way.

We wish that this event was a week later – it falls too close to the first days of the school term, clashes with the Flormart event in Padua, Italy, and also coincides with the Jewish holidays so that many of our Israeli friends will not be attending.

Graham will be at Plantarium next week, on Tuesday evening, Wednesday and Thursday.

If you wish to meet Graham at the event, then please contact us in the usual way.

Visitors to PFE HQ should expect extended journey times in the coming weeks due to a terrible combination of roadworks in our area.

• The A272 is to be closed between Coopers Green and Hadlow Down (about one mile south of our office) for five weeks commencing 26 July. This will result in increased traffic on the local lanes around our offices and makes east-west travel difficult.
• The A26 will have serious delays during roadworks at Eridge Green (two miles south of Tunbridge Wells) for twelve weeks commencing 26 July. We estimate that this could add 15 to 20 minutes to north-south journey times at peak hours.
• Selsfield Road in East Hoathly is to be closed for five weeks from 26 July. This road is our most direct route to/from Crawley, Gatwick Airport and the M23 and often comes up on satnav systems and Google Maps. Please use the A264/A22 instead and allow an extra ten minutes.

If you require advice on travelling to our office, or would rather meet somewhere else, then please contact us.

We were impressed by the new HTA National Plant Show at Stoneleigh Park this week. It got a large proportion of the UK’s major growers together under one roof. There seemed a few prominent companies missing, but perhaps they were waiting to see how the first year worked out.

One of the best features was the new plant competition. It was great to see more than 50 entries covering all types of garden plants. A few creases need to be ironed out (why were some Nemesia varieties classed as annuals whilst others were classed as perennials? Surely it would be better to have a “patio and bedding” class instead) but overall our impression was positive. We’ll be looking to support this further in coming years.

This year, five PFE-managed varieties were in the competition. It is a reflection of the quality of output from our breeders that four of these plants were given awards:

• Nemesia Framboise (bred by Martine Tellwright) – GOLD
• Leucanthemum Real Galaxy (Richard Read and Keith Lintott) – SILVER
• Geum Totally Tangerine (Tim Crowther) – BRONZE
• Nemesia Mirabelle (Martine Tellwright) – BRONZE

For details on any of these plants, please contact us.

Over the next few days, Graham will be at the Garden Event at West Dean (this Saturday and Sunday) and then the HTA National Plant Show on Tuesday 29 June.

Contact us if you wish to make an appointment to see him.

Graham will be at the Week 24 Flower Trials next week. You’d be silly not to be there! His itinerary looks something like this:

• Tuesday: Hendrik ido Ambacht
• Wednesday: Westland
• Wednesday afternoon: Hillegom
• Thursday morning: Honselersdijk
• Thursday afternoon: Aalsmeer
• Friday morning: Düsseldorf area
• Friday afternoon: Gensingen

If you would like to meet up with Graham, then contact us directly. His diary is very full, but there are a few gaps available for meeting growers and breeders.

The Flower Trials are one of the most most important events in the horticultural world now. Several varieties managed by PFE will be on display there, so be sure to take your camera and notebook!