Plans to promote bedding plants for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and other opportunities to boost sales were set out at a meeting between the HTA Bedding Plant Group and the RHS at RHS Wisley at the end of October. 

As part of the next year’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations the HTA Bedding Plant Group are developing a palette of red, white and blue bedding plants which will be promoted by the HTA through retailers and planted prominently at RHS gardens across the country, both in the ground and in containers, during spring/summer 2012. 

Retailers will be encouraged to provide recipe cards for consumers to ‘create the Jubilee look’ and have themed displays with examples of the finished product. In line with this, RHS gardens will demonstrate new ways of displaying bedding plants such as in vertical systems and will encourage visitors to vote for their favourites through their People’s Choice trials.To ensure that the most appropriate plants go into the RHS AGM trials the HTA Bedding Plant Group have agreed to provide the RHS with a list of the top 25 bedding plants species by volume. This will provide key information for the RHS which will be used to help develop the AGM trials programme. The Bedding Plant group will assist further by providing guidance on prioritising which species should be trialled first.

Speaking about this collaboration at the HTA Bedding Focus Conference dinner on 02 November, RHS Director of Horticulture Jim Gardiner comments, “With the RHS and the HTA working more closely together there will inevitably be benefits for the industry which should translate into greater plant sales.”

Chair of the HTA Bedding Plant Group, Charmay Ball adds, “2012 provides a great opportunity for the bedding plant industry and through working closely with the RHS and retailers we can really start to enthuse consumers about themed celebration displays. Closer involvement too with the RHS AGM trials will also help us market the plants more effectively and help to raise their profile.”