Keeping up with tradition, the New and Exclusive Sweet Pea addition this year is Sweet Pea Suffolk Punch Miggie. A spencer type sweet pea, with large frilly flowers in a beautiful purple and lavender bi-colour and a strong scent for its type. 25p of each packet sale also helps to raise money for endangered Suffolk Punch Horses; in partnership with the Suffolk Punch Trust and in recognition of the founder of their Suffolk Heritage Garden in which the Sweet Pea will take centre stage this Spring. (RRP £2.55 for 20 seeds).
In support of Fleuroselect’s Year of the Salvia, Mr Fothergill’s introduces Salvia Summer Jewel Pink. The charming long flowering plants have delicate pink and white free flowering blooms over attractive aromatic foliage. It is compact and vigorous, ideal for beds and borders. Also awarded the RHS Perfect for Pollinators, helping to attract bee’s butterflies and other beneficial insects to the garden (RRP £2.80 for 30 seeds).
Coreopsis Incredible! Sea Shells Mixed is possibly the most unusual new flower in the Mr Fothergill’s collection for next season. It is a half hardy annual with remarkably eye-catching ‘seashell’ like tubular petals, in a mix of red, yellow, and white. Coreopsis Incredible! Sea Shells Mixed is a versatile dwarf plant, which is perfect for the front of borders and those short on space. This new variety is also recognised RHS Perfect for Pollinators, so another flower which will help attract wildlife into the garden (RRP £1.45 for 200 seeds).
New to the Vegetable Collection for 2023 is Pepper (Hot) Tabasco. The recognisable key ingredient of Tabasco sauce (RRP £2.40 for 10 seeds). Each plant will produce 100+ small fruits with classic hot pepper flavour, approximately 50,000 Scoville each. It will grow outdoors but crops best in a greenhouse.
Kale Emerald Ice (RRP £3.10 for 30 seeds) is a striking vegetable addition. The Ruffled bi-colour leaves have truly outstanding flavour as well as an attractive white centre. The succulent leaves with crisp ribs, can be eaten raw or cooked and are an excellent source of Vitamin C and Vitamin A.
Aubergine White Knight F1 produces delicious, porcelain white fruits on disease resistant, compact plants. (RRP £2.40 for 10 seeds). This variety is ideal for container growing so again, a great choice for those short on space, and patio gardens. The plants produce practical, mid-sized fruit up to 18cm long and are a great source of dietary fibre.
Other new varieties include Antirrhinum Mango Twist (RRP £2.40 for 750 seeds) tall stems in a stunning modern colour combination. Zinnia Jazzy Reds ornate long-lasting blooms are a real eye-catching addition to beds and borders (RRP £2.40 for 75 seeds) and Gomphrena mixed (RRP £1.85 for 50 seeds) the upright and bushy flowers are great in dried displays. Courgette Blackstar F1 (RRP £2.15 for 10 seeds) produces dark glossy fruits and shows exceptional disease resistance; and Spinach Rubino F1, which is a great looking, nutritious, and full flavoured Spinach (RRP £1.45 for 300 seeds).