Three Top New Flowers from T & M

Seed firm Thompson & Morgan (T&M) has taken the wraps of its new flower introductions for the 2024 season – with hot, fiery shades promising a sizzling summer of blooms whatever the weather.

While fewer novelties appear to be hitting the market, a handful of garden gems will be available next year for gardeners to grow from seed for the first time. Here’s a guide to three of the best new blooms.

Sunflowers to rock your world (without snapping!)

New sunflower ‘Beaches Mix’ is claimed to offer superior performance in ‘challenging locations’ with T&M pointing out that plants’ flexible stems are not as rigid as regular sunflowers, arming them with better resistance to wind damage and a reduced risk of snapping.

The cheerful blooms of ‘Beaches Mix’ are being launched as a winner for exposed, salt-laden coastal gardens. They’ll thrive in poor, dry soils, too.

Flowering from July into early autumn, flowers act as a magnet for pollinators, blooming in fiery shades of yellow, orange and red. They’re ideal for cutting for the vase, with blooms held on plants reaching a height and spread of 1.5m x 60cm. A pack of 40 seeds costs £1.99.

Fiery Zinnias turn up the summertime heat

New Zinnia ‘Macarenia’ promises to set borders and patio pots ablaze with its vivid scarlet petals edged with gold, blooming profusely from July to October.

Adored by bees and butterflies, this flamboyant new zinnia has bagged an award from Fleuroselect, the international organisation that puts new flowers through their paces in trials, with winners reassuring gardeners of great performance.

Fleuroselect said: “Zinnia ‘Macarenia’ received Novelty Status for its improved doubleness in yellow-red and better plant habit for landscaping and cut flowers. This variety is also earlier flowering.”

Ideal for cut flowers, the half-hardy annual bears a profusion of fully double blooms measuring up to 7cm across, putting on a show from July to October. Plants reach a height and spread of up to 75 x 50cm, and a packet of 50 seeds costs £2.99.

Super-size your rudbeckias!

If you like your coneflowers big, bold and beautiful, you won’t go wrong with new Rudbeckia ‘Kokardas’ – a summertime sensation in beds, borders and containers.

Reaching a height of just 40cm, each plant bears more than 20 giant flowers which can measure up to 14cm across. Golden-yellow petals feature hints of fiery red surrounding brown central halos and T&M claims ‘Kokardas’ was “highly praised in recent RHS garden trials” and offers “excellent weather resistance”. Plants burst into flower in July and won’t run out of steam until autumn frosts. A packet of 100 seeds costs £2.49.

Find out more at www.thompson-morgan.com

Marc Rosenberg