The garden has been part of the Thompson & Morgan
Customer Trials Programme
since 2013. Plants from the 2018 trial can be seen at the base of this page and
click here to read about those trial plants we received from 2013 to 2017.
Driftwood will be the recipient of 12 products from Thompson & Morgan in 2019, you can see them all below and the links to the company website if you fancy ordering some yourselves. Some are brand new for 2019. A couple, Acanthus Mollis and Salvia Amistad have been at Driftwood for a few years but I decided to have a couple more!
Driftwood has featured on both BBC Gardeners' World and Good Morning Britain and had a weekly gardening slot on Latest Homes Live, on a local TV channel in Brighton, Latest Tv between October and December 2014.
In 2016 it was a finalist in the a BBC Gardeners' World Magazine Garden of the year in the small space category.
In 2012 it was one of 4 finalists in the Daily Mail National Garden Competition and outright winner of the Garden News Best Small Garden . Since 2012 it has had a monthly article in Garden News Magazine.
Read my monthly blog on the Garden Media Guild's 2015 award winning website, Richard Jackson's Garden begun in 2015.
My most recent blog, "Top 5 from 2018", was posted in September 2018 and can be read here.
In October 2018 it was great to have been included amongst sixty of the UKs leading gardening bloggers who have shared their sage advice, innovative ideas and hard-learned lessons in this free, downloadable book from Thompson & Morgan UK. Check it out here. My contribution is in chapter 9.
I have written a number of blog posts for Thompson & Morgan which you can read here by clicking the links below.
September 2018 January 2018September 2017 February 2017 January 2017 October 2016 June 2016 March 2016 January 2016 November 2015 September 2015 April 2015 January 2015 November 2014 July 2014 April 2014 February 2014 November 2013 September 2013 March 2013 |
Top 5 from 2018. Happy New Year. Trial plants in 2017. An interesting Winter garden. Looking forward to 2017 Trio of triumphs in 2016 New plant trials for 2016. Winter Storms. 10 years in my garden. Putting a coastal garden to bed for the Winter. Driftwood's 2015 successes. Blog on last 2 years' trial plants. Fuchsias and my relationship with them. Driftwood and T&M trial plants through the summer of 2014. A review of plants doing well in the garden. Thriving at Driftwood. 2013 successes at Driftwood. Big Begonia Revival sucesses at Driftwood. A busy summer at Driftwood Initial involvement with Trials Programme. |
One of the main requirements as a panellist is to maintain a record of what you are trialling. I have chosen to take photographs on arrival and as they grow through the season. It is interesting, as I have a coastal garden, with very strong, salt laden winds blowing in from the sea and it is sometimes difficult to find the right spot for plants and shrubs to give them the protection they rightly need!
Below is the back garden, which faces due north, with half the area receiving no sun in the winter months, being screened by the house & the front garden, which faces the sea and due south.



2019
The garden will open 5 times in 2019.
The following products will be on show at Driftwood in 2019.
Petunia "Sweetunia Starfish" Busy Lizzie "Wild Romance" Salvia "Amethyst Lips" Rhodochiton atrosanguineus, "Purple Bell Vine" Buddleja "Butterfly Towers" Chlorophytum saundersiae 'Starlight' or Hardy Spider Plant Petunia "Peach Sundae" Geranium Cascading "Rosebud Tommy" Cuphea llavea "Tiny Mice" Alstroemeira "Summer Red" Salvia Amistad Acanthus Mollis Verbena "Obsession Twister Red & Purple"![]() |
On 12th February, the first 2019 plants arrived. 3 Acanthus Mollis were delivered and stored in the greenhouse until I could get out and plant them. |
2018
BELOW IS THE RECORD OF PLANTS WE RECEIVED IN 2018.
Hydrangea Black Diamonds Lobelia Hot Pretty Heaven Salvia Farina Series Calendula Orange Power Daisy Thunbergia Arizona Mixed Fuchsia Pink Elephant Petunia Amore Fiesta Blechnum Volcano Hakonechloa Aureola Berberis Orange Sunrise Hydrangea Runaway Bride Umberella bamboo, Asian Wonder Alstromeira Indian Summer