How Green Nursery is a wholesale nursery that supplies garden designers, landscapers and professional gardeners with a range of plants. The team also grows plants for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Director Simon Sutcliffe has picked five new plants that look set to be trending in 2024. They include an agapathus with purple/black flowers over a long flowering period, a delicate, bi-coloured scabious, a compact verbena and an extremely hardy and eye catching echinacea.
Here's gardeners to watch in 2024
Don't miss our round up of the garden trends for 2024
Agapanthus ‘Poppin' Purple’
Agapanthus ‘Poppin Purple’ is a fantastic new cultivar with an abundance of purple-black buds that open into vivid purple. It doesn’t end with the interesting flower colour - it’s a very fast grower and has a very long flowering period, from July to September. It reliably reblooms. It is ideal in containers and in the border, in full sun and well drained soil.
Height x spread: 60cm x 50cm.
Here's how to grow agapanthus
Scabiosa ‘Magic’
We’re really looking forward to offering this new Scabiosa in 2024. It’s a delicate new cultivar that has been developed in the UK by crossing Scabiosa atropurpurea with Scabiosa caucasica. The buds, then flowers, open light-green and turn light pink as they mature. This clump-forming perennial flowers from July to October, later if regularly dead-headed. It grows well in full sun and well-drained soil. Invaluable for flower arranging.
Height x spread: 60cm x 30cm
Verbena bonariensis ‘Vanity’
Unlike the straight species, this new variety only grows to 80cm in height, so is a great midway plant between Verbena bonariensis and Verbena ‘Lollipop’. The foliage is finer and refined and the flower clusters, produced from July to October, have a more intense vivid violet-purple colour. ‘Vanity’ is great for pollinating insects and has a lovely scent. It has a very sturdy habit, making it great for both the border or container. Plant it in full sun and well-drained soil. A Fleuroselect Gold Medal award winner.
Height x spread: 80cm x 40cm.
Here's our grow guide on verbena
Buy from Crocus (£3.99)
Echinacea ‘Pretty Parasols’
Echinacea ‘Pretty Parasols’ is a brilliant new introduction that was bred in Belgium by crossing Echinacea purpurea with Echinacea pallida. It is named for its parasol shaped, bi-coloured flowers in abundance, borne on super sturdy stems from July to October. What makes this cultivar so good compared to other recent Echinacea introductions is its hardiness. Hardy down to -25°C, it has high endurance to wind, heat and sun. Plant it in full sun, in well-drained soil.
Height x spread: 90cm x 50cm.
Looking for more perennial plants?
Buy from Crocus (£12.99)
Prunus laurocerasus 'Sofia'
We're loving this new Prunus.
A miniature member of the Laurel family, this new introduction has narrow serrated leaves and fantastic compact growth. It's tight growth lends itself well to pruning into shapes such as balls, cones or as a hedge. It is very versatile and is able to withstand a range of temperatures from -25 to + 38oC. It also thrives in a range of soil types other than shallow chalk. A fantastic alternative to Buxus!!
Height x spread: 1.5m x 1.2m
Here's 30 of the best plants for a hedge
Buy from Cowell's Garden Centre (£10.99)
Find out more at www.howgreennursery.co.uk