As part of their community outreach programme, Scotts Miracle-Gro have encouraged more than 10,000 school pupils to embrace and enjoy gardening and horticulture for the first time.
More than 100 schools have taken part in the Chelsea Challenge 2014 to grow plants good enough for the company's display at the world’s most prestigious flower show. Plants grown by these 10,000 Miracle-Gro’wers will be exhibited on the Miracle-Gro stand GPA/3 in the Great Pavilion as part of the Discovery Area.
"As our three gardens are part of the educational Discovery Area, we have to have an educational theme that will help visitors understand some of the fundamental lessons of good gardening. So the gardens, graphics and children will tell how composts, feeds and garden care products can make a big difference to the plants we grow," said a Scotts spokesperson.
"Primary schools throughout the country have been growing flowering plants for our first Chelsea garden using different composts and garden soil. These experiments will show that using a good compost will help to grow bigger and better plants when compared to other growing media.
"The vegetables for the second garden have also been grown by primary school children, but this time the experiments undertaken show how plant feeds encourage strong, healthy growth.
"Our third garden, created and grown by secondary schools, shows the results of experiments with the best temperatures for plant growth and other care regimes including draughts, hard or soft water and light levels.
New plants
Scotts' gardens will also feature some new plant varieties that the children have grown, some of which will be put forward for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Best New Plant Competition. All the children that have grown them have their fingers crossed with expectation.
These include:
Alstroemeria Inca Smile (Koncasmile)
Unlike other alstroemerias, Inca Smile has giant flowers, at least twice the size of many other alstroemeria varieties, which have much more impact than similar dwarf varieties. The flowers stand well above the neat foliage. It is an amazing border plant, for the front of the border, but is also perfectly suitable for patio containers, somewhere that has previously been difficult to establish. The blooms are incredibly beautiful, like orchids, and this strain represents the first of a new line of big impact patio Peruvian lilies.
Gerbera Garvinea Sweet Series
In all respects, Garvinea is a true innovation. Garvinea is a revolution in garden plants – with a generous flowering period of three long seasons from early spring until the first autumn frost. Plants produce more than 100 flowers creating a beautiful spectacle in the garden and they can be picked and enjoyed as cut flowers. The large-flowered Garvinea Sweet Series, features Garvinea Sweet Dreams (purple), Garvinea Sweet Sixteen (pink), Garvinea Sweet Glow (orange) and Garvinea Sweet Honey (golden yellow).
Pelargonium PAC® Bermuda® Series
The PAC® Bermuda® series is a new concept in Pelargonium grandiflorum. Its early flowering from overwintered rooted cuttings gives gardeners the chance to have a very floriferous indoor pot plant that can then be transferred to the outside garden, in containers, for summer flowering. Its compact and bushy habit creates a very well formed plant with all the flowers being produced above the leaves.
Petunia Black Night
Black Night is the world’s first double black petunia. It doesn’t set seed, which means it flowers continuously throughout summer. The flowers have good weather resistance and are constantly produced, making Black Night very low maintenance. The ruffled double flowers are longer lasting and more robust than single black petunias. The two-tone velvety sheen of the petals gives Black Night a very contemporary look and feel.
