HTA Plants of the Moment: late perennials and on-trend terrariums

Japanese anemones are always a favourite. Tall and bold, their simple flowers in shades from pink to white really celebrate the season and make appealing pick-up lines in the planteria.

The thick fleshy foliage of sedum varieties, commonly called Ice Plants, add interest throughout the year, from the moment it develops in spring. Their flowers come in eye-catching colours from pure white to pink and red, proving as attractive to us as they are to bees and butterflies.

Make sure your bed cards point out how attractive the seed heads can be on perennials like cone flowers (Echinacea and Rudbeckia), globe thistle (Echinops), sea holly (Eryngium), agapanthus, ornamental grasses, and bulbs like the Pineapple Lily (Eucomis). Thy can keep the interest going through autumn into winter.

Favourite late flowering plants

Asters and Michaelmas Daisies – such as Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch’ and Aster ‘Little Carlow’.
Ice Plant (Sedum spectabile and other varieties) – such as Atropurpureum Group, ‘Autumn Joy’ (syn ‘Herbstfreude’), ‘Brilliant’, ‘Purple Emperor’ and ‘Ruby Glow’.
Japanese Anemones – such as Anemone japonica, ‘Hadspen Abundance’ – single pink, ‘Honorine Jobert’ – single white, ‘Königin Charlotte’ – semi-double rose-pink flowers, ‘Pamina’ – deep pink double flowers and‘September Charm’ – single rose-pink.
Verbena – such as the Argentinian vervain (Verbena bonariensis) and Hardy Garden Verbena (Verbena rigida).

On trend terrariums and miniature indoor gardens for the autumn

As summer draws to a close and everyone starts to move back inside, it’s a great time of year to tempt people to try gardening indoors with eye-catching and on-trend miniature gardens and terrariums.

These stunning little gardens which contain and support a miniature ecosystem of plants are not just space saving but are also low maintenance and can provide a real talking point in the home.

The current vogue for succulents and airplants fits in well with indoor gardening, and ensuring customers have everything they need to create one themselves gives you great scope for increasing each sale. There are also added opportunities to run workshops or masterclasses to tempt more customers in.

Succulents and airplants need little attention – too much love can drown them. Always have a few finished terrariums (priced up) for instant presents and to show customers what they can do and how to do it. Compost, horticultural grit, lightweight clay pebbles, empty containers and miniature gardening accessories like fairy houses all help your people to visualise them in their own home.

Succulents are easy to look after in store as well so there is little wastage; maintaining enough stock may be your biggest challenge.

Plants for terrariums