Floral Fantasia, at RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Essex, is always open to visitors but GTN was invited, along with other members of the press, to see the latest trial of more than 80 sunflowers plus many other plants being assessed for garden performance.

Part of the organising team behind Floral Fantasia are Mike Smith from nearby WD Smith and Sons nursery, breeder Tim Kerley, Roger Seabrook (son of the late Peter Seabrook), Molli Christman who has been looking after the garden for several years, Wayne Early from Volmary, Paul Hansard formerly T&M, Stuart Lowen from Ball and Neil Gow.

Stuart Lowen is seen here with the very compact and bushy sunflower variety ‘Petisol’ ideal for pot / patio / window box use

Mike Smith is seen here with  sunflower ’Sunblast’ which is grown from cuttings, not seed, and was performing well in the garden with repeat shows of flowers on stems possibly long enough for cut flower use but seemed to be quite robust and bushy … one to watch out for?

Also at Floral Fantasia was Dr Raghavendra Prasad who spoke about the challenges of the transition towards the successful use of peat free composts. Raghavendra, has been collating information and data about the practical and commercial use of peat free composts. Several of the contributing nurseries are now almost completely peat free.

The day also took in a visit to nursery of WD Smith where Mike explained how the history of their continued investment into sustainable production processes over many years has enabled them to arrive at a stage where they are almost completely peat free and still producing beautiful quality plants … it can be done!

Mike also demonstrated the highly mechanised and precise production techniques the Smiths nursery team use to enable them to maximise space and resources to full commercial potential.

But I was also reminded that no matter mechanised we become we still need staff who are passionate about our quality plants to work alongside the mechanisation to bring the ‘human touch’. This was being brilliantly demonstrated by the packing team at Smiths who were checking and preparing each plant individually, adding labels and prices as required so that they can sell as soon as they arrive in the retail environment