Chelsea Plant Of The Year 2023 winners!
May 26th, 2023 | Plant Talk with Graham Rice | Comments Off on Chelsea Plant Of The Year 2023 winners!
Earlier this week the winner of the Chelsea Flower Show Plant Of The Year award was announced, after a rigorous appraisal and assessment by the Royal Horticultural Society’s plant experts. From the eighteen finalists – two dropped out at the last minute – three plants, two deciduous shrubs and a perennial, emerged as front runners.
In third place came a new variety of that familiar old standby – weigela (above left). Camouflage (‘Tmwg15-01’) is the first variety with foliage in unique new colour pattern. Each green leaf is edged with a broad band of deep purple-brown, almost black, from before the rich red May and June flowers open until late in the season. I’m a big fan of plants that give you two attractions from the one variety. British-bred Weigela Camouflage does just that. Look out for Weigela Camouflage on QVC and in good garden centres.
This year’s runner up in the Chelsea Flower Show Plant Of The Year competition, Hydrangea serrata Euphoria Pink (‘Gotemba Nishiki’) (above, centre), also extends its colourful contribution to the garden. Although some Chelsea visitors were covering their eyes – opinion was definitely divided on this one – it certainly is colourful.
Pink-tinted new shoots open to dark green leaves with creamy white edges and pink highlights, then from June to August, two-tone red flowers open, with pale pink eyes. So Euphoria Pink, too, is a multiseason plants and, if grown in acid soil or in acid compost in a container, the flowers will be deep violet blue instead of red. Ideal in a container on the deck or patio, there are good stocks of Hydrangea serrata Euphoria Pink in garden centres around the country.
Finally: the winner of the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show Plant Of The Year award is Agapanthus Black Jack (‘Dwaghyb02’) (above, right.).
From, clumps of slender, arching green foliage emerge upright stems topped with large, ball-shaped heads of individual florets. Each black bud opens to deep purple-black flowers and because there can be up to a hundred flowers in each head – and because they don’t all open at once – the display continues for far longer than it does with other varieties.
Another superb plant to grow as a specimen in a container, the combination of intense colour and prolific flowering makes Agapanthus Black Jack a worthy Chelsea Flower Show Plant Of The Year. It’s available from the RHS Plant Shop and in good garden centre