In the midst of a buoyant season, young plant suppliers are looking to maintain momentum into next year with a range of new varieties and formats.

Delamore managing director Wayne Eady says: "This spring there has been a huge upsurge in perennials and shrubs as well as in bedding. But last year growers potted on less, and now there's a lot of demand for plants to fill the gap, including open-grown material.

"There is already demand for peonies, hardy geraniums and Dahlia - we're getting people coming and asking us for those for next season, and we've not even published our catalogue yet."

This publication will also contain a range of Littletunias, a small-flowered, trailing Petunia. "It gives a ball shape, a bit like a Calibrachoa, but with fewer pest and disease problems," says Eady.

In this 10-strong range, each cultivar will be named after a children's hospice built by charity Greenfingers, and a share of each sale will go towards helping future work by the charity, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

Delamore has a new series of eight trailing geranium varieties with large flowers and a 90cm trail. "We are expecting big things from them next year," he says.

He explains that even in a quiet year at the Dutch Flower Trials, the company has picked out new developments, such as Danziger "Dan" Flower Farm's double-flowering XL Begonia and Hishtil's range of fruit-scented herbs.

The company is also among those widening their Begonia ranges, with 'Glowing Embers'. "Begonia was a good performer last year, but it's an expensive item," says Eady. "Now there are a lot of firms pushing them."

The Friolina series of trailing Viola "has done really well this spring", he adds. Delamore will be hoping to pick up on that with the introduction of the award-winning 'Pink and White'.

Eady has noticed a greater demand for smaller cell formats. "It's not just for cost, but for ease of handling and transplanting," he points out.

Kernock Park Plants is also aiming to keep the momentum going. "We are adding hundreds of lines to the catalogue," says managing director Bruce Harnett. "They are the result of continual improvements to the breeding and of our own trialling."

With the company taking on liner production from Hewton Nursery at the end of last year, the catalogue runs to hardy stock and perennials along with bedding and patio plants.

He singles out two plants as having growth potential - Heuchera and Heucherella. "It's a growth area, and we're not just offering more of the same," he says.

"Varieties like 'Berry Smoothie' have a vivid colour, like fruit juice. Growers have picked up on the fact that they are fairly quick and easy to grow, but gardeners are still discovering them."

Another new foliage line is the Sweet Caroline range of Ipomoea, he adds.

"They like warm weather, and come in three eye-catching colours."

Staple bedding lines are also steadily being improved, he says. "The SuperCal range are Petunia-Calibrachoa hybrids, which give you the advantages of petunias - the flower size, disease resistance - but without the sticky feeling on your fingers. We are extending the series with 'Cherry' and 'Vanilla Blush' for next year."

He adds that the key to meeting customer demands is not only quality lines but also flexibility in production. "What people want isn't obvious," he says.

"Some customers want larger plants to finish them quickly, some want them earlier. We have our own Ellepot trays and can adapt the growing medium, for example to include higher Perlite or bark content, light or dark peat, or even peat-free."

The current season has been good to the company, he adds. "With the credit crunch it could have been the worst year ever, but we have been lucky with the weather, and both forward and last-minute sales have been good."

Also meeting customer demand for convenience has been Warwickshire-based Young Plants, which introduces its new Challenger plug tray for all seed-raised lines this year.

Managing director Alex Newey explains: "We conducted a two-year survey, basically asking growers what size, material and coating they would like to see. And what they came up with was a larger, 360-cell tray. It gives them a slightly more mature plant at a high-density price."

The company is enjoying a positive response to its Celebrity Fuchsia range, which featured prominently at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Newey says: "Every garden that featured them won an award."

A portion of the sale of each plant of the series - named after Joanna Lumley, Ant and Dec, Gary Rhodes, Jonny Wilkinson, David Jason, Ian Botham and Sir Steve Redgrave - goes to a charity of each celebrity's choice. So far the company has raised over £10,000 this way.

For the coming year, the company will broaden its range to include the New Zealand-bred Sunbathers range of large-flowered, cuttings-raised Gazania, as well as two colours in the Corona series of Petunia, 'Rose Rim' and 'Salmon Rim'.

"Among all the varieties on display at the Dutch Flower Trials last year, it was those two that caught people's eyes," says Newey.

However, he adds that the trials are not essential for the company when it comes to selecting new product lines. "We have a product development section here, and do a lot of our own trialling, both indoors and out," he explains.

"We use the Dutch trials as an endorsement of our selection criteria - we see them as ratifying the decisions we take."

Another innovation in the company's range will be larger, "three-in-one" plugs, which should appeal to growers and consumers alike, he says.

"If you put the cuttings of three differently coloured varieties into a single plug, the grower can then put that in a pot and in five or six weeks he will have an instant mixed container.

"Clearly, not everything will root at the same time or grow evenly, nor will everything look nice together. But a partner company has developed three different mixes of Calibrachoa that flower at the same time without any underperformance, offering growers an instant solution."

Rather than standard tray size of 84 35mm plugs, the mixed plugs understandably come in a larger tray of 48 45mm plugs. Newey adds: "One nearby garden centre tells me they are already flying out."

Hollyacre Plants is also enjoying some success with the format. Marketing director Simon Davenport says: "We supply the Confetti Garden range of mixes of different colours of Petunia, Calibrachoa and Verbena, and also seven mixes in the Trio series that include all three flower types in contrasting colours in a single plug."

Breeder Dummen also produces matching decorated pots and labels, he says. "It gives the grower a sellable product in a short time, takes out the work of having to arrange them by hand, and, being a gift item, allows them to maximise margins."

NEW LINES

The Celebration range of Calibrachoa, available from Young Plants, is offered in combined plugs of three cuttings, balanced for vigour, in three colour ranges: Spring, Carnival and Orient.

Carmina is a new Begonia cultivar from Young Plants. Managing director Alex Newey says: "In the past two years the whole world has gone mad for Begonia. It will cope well with both very wet and very dry weather.

"There has been a lot of breeding - some successful, some less so. But Carmina is a great garden plant. Not only is it attractive, with a strong scarlet colour, it is also resistant to powdery mildew."

Kernock Park Plants is extending its range of Dahlia with the three-strong Dream series, compact with sturdy, upright growth and bronzed foliage. Pictured is the pink/yellow bicolour variety 'Fantasy'.

Hollyacre also offers "three-in-one" plugs, but as well as single-species mixes come 5cm plugs with one cutting each of Petunia, Calibrachoa and Verbena.

There are seven colour and species combinations available, including 'Calypso'.

Suitable for both baskets and containers, the flowers are available with matching pots and labelling for added-value gift sales.