brilliantgardens

Spring!!

2011-02-03T17:31:00.006Z

Hello, Well the suns out and so are our Primulas! It's nice to see some colour after such a difficult winter - lets hope it's all over now! Walked the Prim crop at our grower in the North West, thankfully he dipped in his pocket and paid for some heating oil, the plants have really appreciated that! They are looking really good, a few pic's to prove it. You will find many of these in Bents or Grosvenor garden centres, check out the stockist page if you don't know them! Many growers have lost most of their Primrose crop this winter, the temperatures were so low for such a long period, those who could not heat suffered badly. I can see numbers of plants being well down.
Cheshire Life- Rose Passion - Olde English and below Woodland Walk

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T15:56:00.002Z

Hi everyone, last few weeks spent checking on the Primrose crops and trials, yet again we have severe winter, trying to keep these plants frost free is expensive!

However, everything is looking well if slightly behind, depending on the snow in the new year we should see some deliveries from mid/late Jan.

We have a tremendous amount of trials this, too early to judge but should be some interesting additions for 2012 onwards.

Finally would just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Hello!

2010-11-18T14:38:00.004Z

The web site is now updated with our new Primulas for flowering 2011, make sure you have a good look around, check out the Whats New? and Collectors Corners pages for the most striking of varieties - keep calling back for news on the varieties we are trialling for future introduction.

A few pictures of things to come - maybe!

Hello!

2010-09-14T09:56:00.006+01:00

Apologies, it is not since July I had time to 'blog', time has just flown.

Primrose crops are all on the point of potting, we have some exciting new lines for potential introduction, more of that when we view the trials spring next year.

Have assessed a number of new Begonias this summer, a few pictures below, it will be a year or two before they are fully commercial, however we do have a recent basket type introduction in the range for 2011 Elserta.

Dennis is busy raising new seedlings for next years trials, looks to be some promising new types in there, more on these next summer.

Hello!

2010-07-01T16:36:00.004+01:00

Hope you are enjoying the sunshine.

We have our Begonia trials all planted out now both here and at Dennis', we also have around 15 varieties in trial at two commercial plant companies, will make some assesments across the summer but now its back to Primula - the seed is now all harvested, just in the thro's of counting and packing and a couple varieties have a priming treatment to improve the germination.

I know it seems the wrong time of year to be thinking about Primula but we will make the first sowings in the next few weeks!

Will keep you upto date on any new Begonias but here's a couple of Prim's ready for introduction next year -

Good Evening

2010-05-07T17:09:00.009+01:00

Well, in the end the Primrose season went pretty good finally - hope you could find what you wanted, we are now planning seed production for another year, should be harvested over the next month or so!

Now its time to think about Begonias and long hot summer days, check out the web site for news on the new variety Buffy and additions to the Renaissance range of Begonia.

They really give exceptional value for money flowering right through to autumn, there's not many plants which will do that for you!

A few pic's of Buffy, Ami Jean Bard and Lemondrops below.

Hi There

2010-03-14T08:30:00.002Z

Dare I say it but we may be heading towards Spring! At least the sun is getting you all out buying Primrose's particularly for Mothers Day, they make an ideal gift for indoor or outdorr containers, and the later flowering Glorious Laced Silver & Gold along with Cheshire Life make great garden plants.
Thoughts move onto the summer and our Begonias, more news later but have a look at the National Begonia Society web site for lots of information on lots of Begonias and a recent article by Dennis covering 2010 new introductions www.national-begonia-society.co.uk

Good Morning

2010-02-22T09:30:00.008Z

Winters still well and truly with us, a good but testing time for Primula!

Last week presented a small trial of our varieties to the trade press, a few pic's here of some of the newer lines.

Begonia cuttings now hitting the growers in numbers, fuel costs to root these are frightening along with the fact they need around 16 hours of light upto mid - March means electricity demands are also high - but its worth it!
We are trialling a number of potential Begonia introductions for hanging baskets and patio containers with large fully double flowers - will keep you informed as to what we think in the summer, ahh summer!

Good Afternoon Gardeners

2010-02-05T15:16:00.009Z

Had a few days on the road checking out the production of BrilliantGardens.com Primula and how they are flowering and where we are upto on deliveries!

Here you can see a couple of trollies all labelled up along with a poster set for delivery.

We are now well into the early (January) flowering varieties, things like Fruits of the Forest, Double Cream, Frilly, ChaChaCha, and the new Pearly Pink and Sugar Plum, many of these will be in centres now, those following on are Champagne, Lovely Laced, Woodland Walk and many others.

................... and still to come, don't worry there are still some fantastic varieties to be delivered over the next few weeks - Cheshire Life - Forsythia Yellow - Glorious Laced to name only three!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2010-01-20T18:58:00.002Z

Hi everyone, apologies for the belated greetings, a combination of the weather and work delayed things a little!
Walked through one of the main Primula crops today, coming along nicely, deliveries have started (after the bad weather) in a small way, those varieties which are January flowering, should be quite a nice spread of availability, certainly later varieties such as Wild Primrose, Glorious Laced and Cheshire Life will be a few weeks yet.
Keep an eye out for the BrilliantGardens.com labels and the poster below!

Don't forget the seed and young plant catalogues are now mailed so for a few of our Begonias visit www.mr-fothergills.co.uk and www.vanmeuwen.co.uk rooting has just started for the early weeks.

Good Afternoon

2009-12-21T13:16:00.004Z

Well, having had a moan about the mild weather and it's effect on the Primula's I now have to say our trials frozen solid!

Testing time for both ourselves and the plants!

Look out for the new BrilliantGardens.com poster in garden centres across the UK from mid-Jan.

Just remains for me to say

Have a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year

Hello

2009-12-09T14:44:00.005Z

Had a walk through one of the larger crops of Primula last week, all coming along nicely a few pics here to prove it! In the process of updating the stockist page on the web site, hopefully there will be a centre near you - if not please let us know. Plants should be on centres from early Jan'. Look out for the new Candy Stripe its a real picture and make sure to give Cheshire Life a try a very tough and hardy cottage garden variety. Our trial plants are looking promising although its still a bit early there would seem to be some exciting new introductions for 2011.

Hello!

2009-11-09T16:59:00.007Z

Well, its looking a bit more wintry, the Primulas really need the cooler temperatures, spaced them all today, some are getting a little too leafy and soft, the extra space, cooler temperatures and shorter days will soon slow them down!

Walked through one of the local crops last week, all looking good and online for Jan/Feb!

If your interest is Begonia and inparticular young plants - keep an eye out at both http://www.fothergills.co.uk/ and http://www.thompson-morgan.co.uk/ they will both offer a limited range of our varieties.

A few pic's to brighten your evening!

Good Afternoon!

2009-10-16T11:23:00.006+01:00

Is this the Indian summer we've been looking forward to! Unfortunately its too warm for the Primulas, seeing some pre-flowering, they much prefer it cooler, other than that they are looking well.
Begonia mother stock is building up well, always difficult to know just how many to produce, however the very positive response to Peardrop means we are working hard to lift the numbers we have available.
Over the next few weeks we will be gaining orders for Primula from garden centres across the UK, as soon as we have this information the stockist page on the web site will be updated.

Hello!

2009-10-05T14:44:00.007+01:00

If you've got this far no doubt you will have seen the site is now chocker block with new Primula pictures, so you now know what to look out for in the garden centres of Britain from early 2010!

Although I say it myself we have some very different Primula for you this time around, many of which you will only find with a Brilliantgardens.com label on it.

A few pic's below to keep you going! Oh and the odd Begonia, won't get chance to update on Begonias until early in the new year so see the pic's below.

Evening All

2009-09-08T20:58:00.003+01:00

Running a little behind with posts, had a busy few weeks, a quick visit to Germany and a short break in Seville and now in the middle of potting Primrose's.

Just potted our trial material, over 50 potential new lines for the future, it will be February/March before these can we fully assessed - seems a long way off!

We have four growers producing a flowering crop of our Primrose range this time around, so will be available in a greater range of garden centres - more details later in the year.

Will update the web site with the new Begonia range for next year shortly, we have two really great introductions, one a new partner for Peardrop from Dennis and the other from way back!

Peardrop was voted number 2 Begonia for 2010 in a recent trial, it really is a very special variety, make sure you try some next year.

You may recall we had a small trial production of a new family of Geranium (Pelargonium) namely 'Summer Twist' this year, it was very successful, the plants performed well both on the nursery and in the garden (see pictures) so we plan to increase numbers next year and may even see a limited number of another variety to test.

Good Morning

2009-08-10T08:25:00.004+01:00

Last week we had the first assessment of the new seedlings (and some older ones) from Dennis, have another visit planned in a couple of weeks to catch any later flowering lines and have a second check on those we felt have interest the first time around.

As is often the case the potential introductions are small in number against the total number of seedlings, you have to be very selective in flower shape, colour, size etc along with plant habit, foliage colour and outdoor performance to name a few!

Thankfully Dennis has some fantastic basket types fitting these criteria, a great selection of colours, Apricots, Pinks, Whites, Bicolours, fully doubles, ruffled and more.

Obviously this selection process is at the very early stages of any plants development, they will be tested again in larger numbers next summer at the same time being assessed for mother stock and cutting production and disease resistance - plenty of work still to do then!

Good Morning

2009-07-28T08:28:00.007+01:00

Finally a few pictures from our outdoor Begonia trials, each year we plant out the present commercial range of varieties along with lines which we are trialing as potential new introductions for the future, this year we have planted over 50 patio containers and a number of permanent stone troughs along with a few in the borders.

This gives us a great opportunity to live with the material and see exactly how it performs through the year in all weather conditions.

We have varieties from Dennis' breeding programme and others from Germany and America, most of these are close to becoming commercial.

Later this week we will have the first assessment of seedlings at Dennis' these are at the very early stage and could be 4-5 years away from coming to the market, will up date you on these in a few weeks time, in the meantime enjoy the pictures of our trials in Cheshire.

Welcome

2009-07-18T16:59:00.005+01:00

Had a day in Germany this week, it was a bit of a shock coming back to 16c and rain from 32c dry and sunny!

However the Begonias are just loving it, our display garden is looking absolutely fantastic, will get some pic's uploaded soonest, they love the combination of sun and rain, even if we are not so sure!

We work with a partner in the South of Germany, they are a fifth generation Begonia family, we send Dennis' varieties there for additional garden performance testing along with testing for potential disease problems, once through this process the stock plants can be produced.

With Dennis alongside, we viewed all the varieties planted outside both in full sun - remember it was 32c that day and will go upto high 30's and also under a shade area - a few pic's below - this gives us a clear indication of how they perform in these conditions and allied to our outdoor testing here in the UK gives us a good picture of what any variety is capable of.

Lots of material awaiting all types of assessment for future years.

We are also selecting potential new introductions for 2010, new for next year is a partner to Peardrop but more about that later in the year.

Hello

2009-07-02T09:44:00.004+01:00

Good Morning All, well summers well and truly here, Begonias are going out thick and fast, ideal to brighten up the patio - try Blue Sky varieties which are extremely tolerant to this sunny weather we are having just now.

Main concentration over the last few weeks and the coming few weeks is Primrose seed, it is all now harvested, (a few pic's below) a good part of which is now cleaned, counted and packed, still a few more to get done!

Sowing is about to start, its hard to think of January/February with the weather as it is, but the sowings over the next four weeks will all flower in the Jan - March time frame.

Later in the year I will update the web site covering the many and varied introductions we have for 2010.

Good Afternoon

2009-06-05T12:58:00.004+01:00

Well, the sun is still shining although we can expect a little much needed rain over the next few days.

Walked through the Begonia crop this week, it is looking good and we plan to start some deliveries from next week, I have to say the Peardrop looks exceptional, Ami Jean Bard is such a Strong colour with dark green shiny foliage and regulars like Flamboyant are thriving! - a few pic's below

There will be a few new names on the stockist list - it is difficult to keep 100% accurate so ring first before making a special visit.

We planted out our own trials and displays this week, around 100 containers, some single plants and others 3 or 4 to a container covering all the present range and the items we have in trial for future production, should be an absolute picture in a few weeks time!

In Holland for a couple of days next week viewing a range of trials from seed and plant companies.

Good Morning

2009-05-19T08:42:00.008+01:00

The weather has decided to conspire against us but don't worry its only a blip!

Walked through one of the Begonia crops last week, this year we have a grower in the South East and one in the West Midlands, plants are looking good although running a little late!

The trial varieties look promising, these will be assessed inside and outside in July, selections will be made and decisions as to how quickly we can produce a suitable quantity of mother stock (we produce all these varieties from cuttings) at the same time they will go to the lab for disease testing to ensure we start with the cleanest possible material.

A few pictures below, the new Lemondrops, Blue Sky Appleblossom a flower of Peardrop and Flamboyant showing just what its capable of!

Hello

2009-05-07T16:11:00.003+01:00

Welcome to the blog of http://www.brilliantgardens.com/ we specialise in new varieties of Primula and Begonia, check out the web site for a variety overview and lots more!

We are heading rapidly towards summer and according to the forecasters we are in for a good one, the Begonia production is growing away nicely, you can't beat a Begonia for performance and colour particularly in the UK.

The Begonias will be in garden centres from early June through July along with the new Geranium Summer Twist in the South Eastern area (another picture attached).

The stockist page on the web site will be updated over the coming weeks, however availability will be somewhat limited compared to last year.

We have around 50 lines in trial for potential new introduction in years to come, this covers a whole range of plant habits, flower and foliage colours, flower types etc so we should have something for everyone given a little luck!

Good Morning

2009-04-21T08:46:00.004+01:00

Hope I don't speak to soon but this weather is fantastic and has everyone thinking of summer although we are still in April! Begonias are now potted, you can see this years range on the web site, theres also some background by Dennis to one of this years introductions, lets hope this weather continues for the next few months so we call all enjoy these brilliant plants in the garden.

Something to look out for if you are in the South Eastern area, we will introduce a small quantity of a new family of Geranium 'Summer Twist' perfect for the pation and to add colour to hot borders, Summer Twist has spiky petals in five seperate colours, see picture of Rose, this year is a trial run with our grower in the South East if it goes well it will be nationwide in 2010.

Hello

2009-04-07T18:37:00.005+01:00

We are well into Begonia mode now, had a walk through the propagation benches last week (a couple of pic's here), all is looking well, rooting is just short of 100% across all varieties!

These will be potted on into one litre pots this week or next and then grown on to flowering, which will be towards the end of May or early June.

Availability will be somewhat restricted compared to last year, we plan to have more growers across the country to improve this for the future.

We have two great new introductions, will get these on the web site soonest, also available will be the fabulous Peardrop, a unique bicolour bred in Cheshire.

Hello Gardeners

2009-03-26T09:18:00.003Z

Well, last time I was extolling the beautiful weather of March and here we are with wind, rain and sleet! Typical Primula weather!
We are now well into seed production for sowing later this year and flowering next its almost continuous process, the seed will be harvested around May/June depending on variety and sown from July.
It is vital to get the sowing times correct, it has a major effect on the flowering times and if you go too late then you may not have any flowers at all!
We have planned to produce a certain amount of seed of each variety but there is always a degree of the unknown - its not an exact science - we may have a few more or less than we anticipate.
Although all these plants are in the glasshouse the weather, particularly light levels plays an important role in not only the amount of seed but also the quality.
Varieties will differ in all these aspects but we do need a quality of seed to give a reasonable germination and vigour.

The Begonia production is now underway, cuttings are on the rooting benches, plan to have a walk through them next week and will update the web site through April. http://www.brilliantgardens.com/

Good Morning

2009-03-13T08:15:00.005Z

Well, we are well into March now, temperatures are improving (just now anyway) days are stretching out, all the bulbs are appearing, its a really nice time of year, the Primrose deliveries are quickly coming to the end, maybe upto the end of the month.

As I have said before we have viewed all the potential new introductions for next year, I'll add a couple of pic's below, don't want to give too much away!

We have NINE new varieties for next year, many of which are only available at http://www.brilliantgardens.com/

There's a final instalment from Howard to come, should be on site at the weekend, this time he gets into some of the detail of breeding Primroses, a couple of his here!

Evening All

2009-02-27T20:14:00.004Z

At last a few minutes to add to the blog, its been a mad three weeks so the blogs had to wait!

Primula's are going out like mad at the minute, the weather slowed flowering but its gradually kicking off now, if you can't find what you want let us know, both growers are really in the thick of dispatching.

Much of the time over the last few weeks has been spent assessing the trials at our own nursery and our breeders own trials and a quick trip to Holland to view some trials there!

From all this viewing and any amount of discussion we have selected a number of new introductions to the range for flowering 2010.

We will have around Ten additions to the http://www.brilliantgardens.com/ range for next year with at least six of these will be exclusive to BG.com.

If you haven't seen it already there's a new instalment from Howard on the 'Meet the Breeders' page on the web site, well worth a look.

Soon be time to update the site with this years Begonia range, a couple of cracking new introductions there, well, when I say new, one variety celebrates her 100 years anniversary in 2009, keep checking back for more.

A couple of pictures from the Primula trials.

Hello

2009-02-07T17:31:00.005Z

We attended a show in London this week to present http://www.brilliantgardens.com/ to the gardening media, unfortunately it was hit by the weather, so visitors were a little depleted! However gave me chance to take a few pictures of the Primulas in terracotta pots and bowls, a few below to help you through this snowy weather!

Next week its Primula trials in Holland and the week after our other UK based breeder, a trip to see what Richard in Nottingham has in store for us, obviously all depending on the weather!

Good Morning

2009-01-31T20:42:00.002Z

Another trip to Norfolk this week to have a final assessment on the potential new introductions, or at least those in flower, there's still a number of lines in the late flowering category to put some colour up!
We have some great introductions for next year we also have a number of lines already planned for the following year, these are those which we had limited mother plants so could not produce in enough seed this time around.
Seed production kicks off in the next week or two and in some cases will go on until June time, your never quite sure how many viable seed you will harvest but with experience we can now have a fairly close estimate!
This seed will be the basis of the varieties you will find in the www.brilliantgardens.com stockists this time next year.
Deliveries to garden centres is strong in the South East but other areas are a bit slow due to later flowering, a bit more sun will improve things rapidly.

Hello

2009-01-21T16:20:00.005Z

Made a visit to our other grower late last week, they have the largest number of Brilliantgardens.com Primula and have just recently started deliveries to garden centres.

Their nursery is based in the Evesham area and has been generally colder than our grower in Essex, therefore running a few weeks behind, last week they shipped a small number of the earlier flowering varieties, Double Cream, Frilly Oranges & Lemons and Fruits of the Forest, if we get a little more sun like today then flowering will develop at a pace.

Picture left is the variety Champagne just breaking colour and below a trolley of plants labelled and ready to go!

Good Morning

2009-01-15T10:49:00.007Z

Dropped in on Howard at the end of last week, well when I say dropped in its around a four hour drive from Cheshire to Norfolk!

Went to see how the present varieties are doing and just which have been improved or can be improved for the future along with having an early look at some potential new introductions.

Howard's varieties within Brilliantgardens.com include Double Cream, Fruits of the Forest, Frilly Oranges & Lemons and Greensleeves.

I have to say these are all looking great at the growers, however we do need to do some work here and there.

We always have a large number of potential new lines, from these you may have something or you may have nothing in the way of new introductions, there is always a certain amount of luck involved particularly with Primroses!

However this year at Howard's we have been very lucky, there is around 10 new lines we will move forward with over the next couple of years.
We would hope to see some of these introduced for 2010 flowering but will depend on how seed we can produce - here's hoping!

Hello

2009-01-10T15:43:00.005Z

This frosty weather is really testing our Primulas, pleased to say even those we view as been more indoor varieties are standing up well to been frozen!

This week had a trip down to our grower in Essex, a chance to walk through the various varieties of Prim's and just see how they are all doing.

This grower started some deliveries into garden centres from mid - December, so if you live in the South East you may well have come across the earlier varieties such as Fruits of the Forest, Double Cream and Frilly and Frilly Oranges and Lemons, he is now moving into ChaChaCha, Firecracker, Greensleeves, Champagne, Woodland Walk and some Pastiche, looking at them the next up will be Purity Blue & Lime, Forever White and then Stonewash, Forsythia Yellow and following up will be things like Cowslip, Wild Primrose, both Gold and Silver Glorious Laced and Cheshire Life, these last few will be early/mid February.

If you need to know more about these varieties of Primula go to http://www.brilliantgardens.com/

A few pictures taken on Wednesday at the nursery just to wet your appetite!

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T16:24:00.002Z

Well, the Prim's have had a real temperature test!

Plants have been frozen for a number of days and are still looking good.

Deliveries into garden centres will kick off within the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for our stunning new varieties.

Here's wishing you all a Happy New Year

Good Morning

2008-12-19T09:23:00.003Z

Just working through a busy Jan/Feb 2009 calender, really busy months not only for making deliveries of our Primulas into garden centres, we also have to asses various trials across the country to check just how our potential new introductions are performing, we also like to view new lines from other breeders in the UK and Europe to see what maybe of interest there!
Begonia planning is well underway, the mother stock was potted back in September and nurtured to give the best possible quality cuttings, rooting will start mid Jan, we have two new introductions - watch the web site for more info.
We have a trade press event lined in up for early February in London, so we will be have enough to do!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas.

http://www.brilliantgardens.com/

2008-12-16T08:40:00.003Z

Good Morning

We've made an early start in the South East, later this week will see a few early deliveries into garden centres in the South East of the country.
Regular and more substantial availability will kick off from early January and as varieties come into flower from there on in.
This year we have two growers, one in the South East covering centres in this area and the other is based in the Gloucester area delivering throughout the UK.
Look out for the Brilliantgardens.com labels!

http://www.brilliantgardens.com/

2008-12-12T09:26:00.006Z

Hello

Had a long drive across to Norfolk earlier in the week to meet up with Howard one of our Primula breeders.

Keep an eye on the web site for an interview coming soon!

It was an opportunity to have an early look at some of his own variety trials, I suppose theres two levels, one being improving what is there already and secondly looking for brand new varieties from a range of ideas and crosses hes done.

Its early days but there could be some really nice bicolour flowered types along with a few other possibilities.

This year from Howard we have the varieties Greensleeves, Double Cream and Fruits of the Forest.

We will be back there in early January and again late January to make a final assessment.

http://www.brilliantgardens.com/

2008-12-05T15:21:00.001Z

Hello

Just had a walk through all the Primulas we have in our trials, they have been frozen for most of the week but certainly don't look any worse for that!

These trials are potential new introductions for flowering 2010 and beyond so its very important to ensure they are tested fully and then assessed next spring.

All told this year we have just over 50 individual lines to judge on a whole range of criteria, there will be lines which move forward rather quickly, others that will take a few more years to get right and yet others which will go on the compost heap!

Every year we go through this process to ensure BrilliantGardens.com and our customers are given the best choice possible in Primulas.

2008-12-03T10:56:00.001Z

Good Morning

Had an icy and snowy trip to the midlands yesterday (Tuesday) to view one of the two nurseries with our Primulas growing.

The plants are looking really good and on line for a January start to retailers.

Some of the earliest available varieties will be the new Double Cream and Fruits of the Forest designer mixtures.

Then closely followed by Frilly and Frilly Oranges & Lemons and the brilliant Woodland Walk.

Our collectors variety (only available in very limited numbers) Greensleeves should be in centres early/mid January.

From late January the dark leafed varieties like Fairy Glen and the new Rose Passion should be out there!

Following up probably from around mid - February will be the later flowering varieties such as Forsythia Yellow, the gorgeous Glorious Laced Gold and Silver and the brand new Cheshire Life.

Stonewash is another variety which is later to flower coming through from the middle of February - keep an eye out for those fantastic denim blue stripy flowers.

The traditional Cowslip and Wild Primrose will the follow.

We will try and keep you up to date with what varieties are in centres at anyone time, you can always ask here!

http://www.brilliantgardens.com/

Welcome

2008-12-01T14:20:00.001Z

Hello and Welcome to the first Brilliantgardens.com blog!

The aim of this blog is to keep information flowing from ourselves at BG.com to you!

It is an easy and quick way to keep regular news updated.

There is a link from our main site at http://www.brilliantgardens.com/

For those who have yet to visit, we are breeding in new varieties of Begonia and Primula which are available in good garden centres across the UK.

Starting January you can find our Primula range in garden centres, Begonias will follow May/June time.

Plan to view the Primula production Tuesday this week, will update Wednesday!

Call back to check for most recent news