Four spectacular new plant varieties launching this summer

It may have been a wet squib of a start to the summer, but team PFE is feeling hopeful of better (sunnier) days to come. This summer is set to be a busy one, with not one but four new plant varieties launching at shows this year!

It can be a long and winding road to get a new plant to this stage, so we’re very excited to see these fabulous plants moving ever closer to market.

Wild & Wonderful: Coleus Skeletal

First up, the stunning Coleus Skeletal. This variety, bred by Rick Grazzini of GardenGenetics LLC in the US, really must be seen to be believed.

Coleus Skeletal features quirky fishbone-shaped leaves, with a purple mid-rib that bleeds into magenta, finished with a vibrant lime green margin. This variety makes a hearty pot-full, with excellent basal branching and a lush habit.

Skeletal, propagated by Kernock Park Plants, is launching first with Hayloft Plants at BBC Gardener’s World Live, 13^th-16^th June. Skeletal is entering the Hot Off The Potting Bench, competing for the Peter Seabrook Award for Best New Plant. Kernock Park Plants will also be entering Coleus Skeletal at the HTA’s National Plant Show, from 19^th-20^th June.

Already making a buzz in the industry and with consumers, we’re expecting this variety to be a top seller. Not one to miss! Get in touch with us or Kernock for information on 2025 supply of this brilliant plant.

Out of this world: Hibiscus Walberton’s® Lunar® Delight

©Neil Robertson, Farplants

The latest in the delightful Walberton’s® Lunar® Hibiscus series is a real stunner: Hibiscus Walberton’s® Lunar® Delight.

The Walberton’s® Lunar® series is bred and propagated by the Walberton’s® team, with breeding started by the late, great David Tristram, and continued by an all-female team on-site at Walberton Nursery.

These Hibiscus are hybrids between Hibiscus syriacus and Hibiscus paramutabilis, creating stunning plants with huge flowers, but which are hardy! A truly magnificent breakthrough.

Free-flowering, with huge buds opening into 16cm flowers, the foliage on these plants is also attractive. Forming a compact, bushy plant, they pack a serious punch.

Hibiscus Walberton’s® Lunar® Delight features silky salmon-pink petals, deepening to a claret centre, punctuated by creamy white pistil and stamen. Hibiscus Walberton’s® Lunar® Delight is the fifth in the series, following Lunar® Eclipse, Lunar® Flare, Lunar® Rhapsody and Lunar® Rose Moon.

Farplants will be launching this stunner at BBC Gardener’s World Live, 13^th-16^th June, and at the HTA National Plant Show on 19^th-20^th June. For more information on supplying this variety and/or the whole series, reach out to us or Farplants directly.

A whole new world: Spiraea Walberton’s® Plum Carpet

Another one to watch this year is Spiraea Walberton’s® Plum Carpet. This lovely variety is the brand new partner to the exceptional Spiraea Walberton’s® Magic Carpet, first launched in 1995! Loved the world over, Walberton’s® Magic Carpet won the coveted RHS AGM in 2002, and has been delighting gardeners ever since.

Now, there’s a complementary new carpet soon to be on the market: Spiraea Walberton’s® Plum Carpet. This variety features rich, plummy young growth with generous heads of pink flowers works exceptionally well alongside Walberton’s® Magic Carpet. With outstanding disease resistance, extreme cold hardiness, and a compact, bushy habit, this plant is a real ‘doer’!

Spiraea Walberton’s® Magic Carpet (left) with Spiraea Walberton’s® Plum Carpet (right)

With elite stock available, this plant is ready to whisk customers off to a whole new world, either as a stand-alone, or as a partner to Magic Carpet. Get a good look at this variety at BBC Gardener’s World Live, and also at the HTA National Plant Show this year, on the Farplants stand.

Sweet dreams are made of: Hebe iBE® Colour Dream

Last, but certainly not least, Seiont Nurseries will be launching the excellent Hebe iBE® Colour Dream at the HTA National Plant Show.

Bred by Koeder Innovation, the iBE® Hebe collection is the result of a large-scale controlled breeding programme in Germany and Australia. Selected as first-class plants for gardens and nurseries, these Hebes have a great branching habit, improved disease resistance and are fantastically hardy.

Hebe iBE® Colour Dream is the first to launch, featuring excellent branching – no pinching needed. It displays a lovely, rounded shape, with healthy and vigorous foliage. Brightly variegated with pink tips on the new foliage, iBE® Colour Dream flowers in October, and is hardy in the UK.

For more information on how to get your hands on this variety, reach out to us, Seiont Nurseries in the UK, or Koeder Gartenbau for EU sales. Hebe iBE® Blue Dream and iBE®  Violett Dream are also available, with more colours to come!

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For more information on any of these varieties, do get in touch. If you have a new variety to launch, we’d love to hear from you.

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