Chelsea Plant of the Year contenders - Kitchen Garden Magazine

Burncoose Nurseries enters two plants for Plant of the Year at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

RHS Chelsea Flower Show regular, Burncoose Nurseries, which is once again supported by Terra Firma, has two plants in the running for Plant of the Year at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The first plant, which is bred by Jos van Meuwen and Arjan Keijzer, of Solid Plants, is Acer palmatum METAMORPHOSA ® ‘Arjos1’ (PBR af), commonly known as Acer palmatum ‘Metamorphosa’.

Article continues below...
Advert

Enjoy more Kitchen Garden reading in the monthly magazine.
Click here to subscribe & save.

Mr van Meuwen and Mr Keijzer have been passionate Japanese maple grafters and growers for more than 15 years. In 2010 they discovered Arjos1. In the years that followed it turned out to be easy to grow, easy to care for and a plant with an amazing set of leaf colours during the season; a new variety was born.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 is the first time this plant has been exhibited. A limited number will be available to purchase for the first time this summer, with many more available in spring 2019. Plants can be purchased exclusively by mail order through Burncoose Nurseries.

The second plant in the running for Plant of the Year is Fargesia murielae ‘Luca’, bred by Frank Schnupper.

Article continues below...
Advert

Fargesia murielae ‘Luca’ (below) is an interesting novelty in the bamboo assortment.

This variety is a real dwarf. It has an almost round shape and only reaches a height of 40 to 50cm with a maximum width of about 1m. ‘Luca’ is a perfect species for small gardens, foundation planting and in a pot on the terrace or balcony. ‘Luca’ does not develop spreading rhizomes and is therefore not invasive in the garden in the same manner as many other bamboo species and varieties. In addition, the plant is hardy and requires little or no maintenance.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show will be the first time the plant has been exhibited to the public. It will be available to purchase through Burncoose Nurseries in the summer.

Article continues below...
Advert

Burncoose Nurseries’ stand this year is in the Great Pavilion at GPF188.

Enjoy more Kitchen Garden reading in the monthly magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Sign-up to the Kitchen Garden Magazine Newsletter

Enter your e-mail address below to see a free digital back issue of Kitchen Garden Magazine and get regular updates straight to your inbox…

You can unsubscribe at any time.

Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.