The winner of this year’s Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year award is Digitalis Illumination. In second place came Dianthus Memories and in third place came Hyacinthus orientalis 'Royal Navy'.
I have to say that I’ve been enthusing about
Thompson & Morgan’s
Digitalis Illumination ('Tmdgfp001') for quite a while (above left, click to enlarge). It’s a hybrid between the familiar foxglove and what used to be called Isoplexis canariensis, a slightly shrubby relation from the Canary Islands.
I wrote it up here on this blog back in January when T&M’s plant breeder Charles Valin said this: “I started in 2006. I had a feeling that although Ispolexis was classified as separate from
Digitalis, they are so similar that Isoplexis should probably be called
Digitalis. I kind of wanted to prove botanists wrong! And I wanted to combine the exotic looking bird pollinated flowers of
Isoplexis with the hardiness of
Digitalis.”
He was right, not only did he create this beautiful new plant but in the latest edition of the
RHS Plantfinder, the botanists have reclassified
Isoplexis canariensis as a
Digitalis.
The trophy was presented (left, click to enlarge) by Elizabeth banks, Chair of the Council of the RHS, to Paul Hansord (centre) and Michael Perry, both of
Thompson & Morgan.
Dianthus Memories ('WP11 Gwe04'), from
Whetman Pinks (above centre, click to enlarge), was voted into second place. I first came across this fragrant double white garden pink when it won the Best New Plant award at
The National Plant Show in the summer of last year.
The National Plant Show is a trade show and plants that do well there often make their mark with gardeners the following year.
I wrote about it at the time.
In third place in the Chelsea New Plant of the Year awards was
Hyacinthus orientalis 'Royal Navy' from
JS Pennings De Bilt (above right, click to enlarge). This double-flowered dark blue hyacinth is beautifully fragrant and the colour is a deep and dark sultry blue.