Good Friday’s BBC Gardeners' World screening of a visit to Ball Colegrave’s trial grounds at West Adderbury was a huge PR antidote to the current weather-induced gloom and doom.

The BBC’s plan was to capture the diversity of summer colour, explain new breeding developments for bedding and patio plants and broadcast the programme at a key time for the bedding industry.

It couldn't have worked out better - 8.30pm on Friday29 March,the start of Easter weekend. Shame about the cold snap…

“We trust the programme will go some way to encouraging home gardeners to head down to their local garden centre over the coming weeks to buy their ‘Summer Colour’, said a Ball Colegrave spokesman.

The BBC film squeezed a full days' filming intojust a few minutes for the programme, but were still able to feature dozens of new and recent varieties

The company havd announced Monday 15 July to Friday 2 August as the dates for this year’s ‘Summer Showcase’

It’s a golden opportunity to evaluate the latest varieties in pots, baskets, containers and garden settings along with many existing favourites, review the past season, plan ahead for 2014 and network with other retailers and growers.

Big re-design changes are under way at the show gardens to demonstrate more experimental varieties than ever.