With 140 years of horticultural experience between them, Thompson & Morgan's newly-formed new product development team is able to boast a rich diversity of expert horticultural knowledge.

True to its tradition of providing gardeners with the newest, most interesting and best quality flower and vegetable varieties, the T&M new product development team is pulling out all the stops.

Paul Masters, who heads up the horticultural team at Thompson & Morgan, is excited about next year’s range. “Our plant breeding team, led by Charles Valin, has been working overtime and the new varieties that we're going to be offering are phenomenal! Some of them are completely revolutionary in the gardening world,” he said.

Paul brings more than 36 years of horticultural and gardening expertise to the team. He started his career as an apprentice at Notcutts, rising to the position of production director, and has travelled extensively in Europe and North America in his search for new and interesting plant varieties to offer to UK gardeners.

Colin Randel is widely known in the horticultural business as an authority on vegetables. His experience of growing and developing vegetables varieties is second to none and extends to almost 50 years. Colin was Chair of the RHS Wisley vegetable trials sub-committee for eight years from 2006 to 2013.

Peter Freeman is the most widely travelled team member, having visited the Far East and India as well as many European countries looking for new products. Over 38 years in the horticultural business, he has worked in nurseries and garden centres, in buying and management. Peter has a particular passion for herbaceous perennials.

Kris Collins returns to the T&M fold shortly to take up his new role as quality control manager on the horticultural team in mid-December. He brings veritable mine of knowledge and experience from almost 20 years in professional horticulture.