New for 2020

AG reader Lesley Upton chooses a selection of the new plants and seeds available this year, from onions that don’t make you cry to a compact perennial verbena

- Lesley Upton

IT’S that time of year when we start thinking about what seeds to sow and plants to buy for the coming season. It always amazes me how suppliers of plants and seeds come up with new varieties, and this year is no exception.

In this article are a host of options new to the companies that supply them. Included are flower seeds and plants you can buy ready to pot up for the coming season, plus vegetable seeds. There are also two fruit trees.

Whether you favour growing from seed or buying plants, there’s something here for everyone.

The names of the companies supplying each plant/seed feature in brackets at the end of the description, with the key to stockists below.

Fruit trees

Prunus persica ‘Emperor’s Delight’

This heavy-cropping flat nectarine produces doughnut-shaped fruits with a red flush that are claimed to taste ‘almost too good to be true’. The melting creamy-white flesh is extremely juicy and has a rich sugar-sweet flavour. Fruits: Mid-August. HxS: 3.6m (12ft) as a bush, 1.9m (6ft) high and 3.6m (12ft) wide as a fan. Supplied on Montclair semi-dwarfing rootstock. Pollination: Self-fertile (P).

Prunus ‘Flavor Candy’

Pluots are a cross between a plum and an apricot. This variety produces heavy crops of red-flushed fruits with yellow flesh and combines the juiciness of a plum with the fragrant taste of an apricot. Pluots require a warm, sheltered site in full sun. Fruits: Early September. HxS: 3.6m (12ft) as a bush, 2m (6ft 6in) high and 3.6m (12ft) wide as a fan. Supplied on Montclair rootstock. Pollination: Self-fertile (P).

How plants are supplied