Marigold ‘Strawberry Blonde’
Regular visitors may recall that, at a recent trial ground visit, I said that my favourite new plant was a French marigold with unusually coloured flowers. It had the usual, neat habit (about 20cm) and fully double flowers but the flowers were a curious and pretty blend of bronze tones with a hint of pink. I am pleased to see that, when the latest Thompson & Morgan catalogue dropped onto the doormat this morning, it is included in their new flowers for 2017. It is good to see that I am not the only one who liked it!
It may be available from other seed companies (I have no evidence of this yet – Unwins sold plug plants in 2016) but T&M are selling it for £2.99 for 20 seeds. It was bred by PanAmerican Seeds.
Two other flowers that struck me as exciting are Rudbeckia ‘Caramel Mixed’ which are a useful 50cm high and in a strange, rather similar colour range of apricot mixed with pink and the first ‘white’ pot marigold (calendula). Called ‘Snow Princess’ I have a feeling that the quoted ‘pure white’ may be stretching it a bit and I think that ‘vanilla’ may be nearer the mark but it certainly looks like a breakthrough in calendulas and they are selling it for 99p for 100 seeds which makes it a ‘must try’ in my opinion.
The Biking Gardener 
I love those colours. I’m also going to try the snow princess calendula which looks like a very pretty double, even if it is pale cream really.
I just looked at rudbeckia caramel mixed I have to give that a try ….love planning next year lol
yes I think that is a nice plant and interesting colour!
Great colours