Alan's Bio:
Alan, a 3rd generation Nurseryman has been working on the family nursery for 23 years. His experience in gardening includes, designing award winning RHS displays, maintaining gardens, big and small and growing plants commercially for garden centres and the gardeners alike.
Alan's top new plants for Spring 2025
With spring right around the corner, it’s time to start prepping your garden for the coming year. I have put together some of my top plants for spring 2025, which will fill your garden with colour. To make it onto this list, a plant does not just have to be pretty, (while that’s obviously important) it has to be easy to care for and perform amazingly also. This list consists of plants that I know will do well in your garden and help you get the garden of your dreams.
Dahlia Tubers
When it comes to flowers that offer bright colour interest throughout the summer and can even be used as cut flowers, Dahlias should be top of your shopping list. Our Dahlia tubers are lifted, graded, and sent to you, from the beginning of March. The great thing about planting tubers is they give you a head start on the season, resulting in longer flowering periods and earlier blooms. Plus, they are fantastic for beginners, as they are easy to plant and produce stronger and more reliable plants.
Petunia Prettytoonia Strawberry Cream
Newlands Nursery Plant of the Year 2025!
the year 2025. One of the main reasons, (it goes without saying) is the stunning flowers. There are no prizes for guessing how it got its name. The Pink and white flowers will draw attention, whether planted in a basket, container or the garden. But, this is not the only reason we chose it as plant of the year. In our mind, to even be considered as plant of the year, it has to be easy to grow, be able to cope with the UK weather and have fantastic garden performance. Petunina Prettytoonia Strawberry Cream ticks all the boxes, and then some.
Upright Geranium Fireworks
This is one of our number one picks for a container plant. The Fireworks range of Upright Geraniums are a real winner. When I have been in a field of Geraniums, these are the plants that really stand out. Their unusual flowers, form a starburst shape of colour. Sometimes known as stellar Geraniums, they really do impress in a container. Being a Geranium, they are long flowering, often treating you to blooms from late spring, all the way to the first frost. This is a must-have range of geraniums.
Petunia Bubbles
The UK is very lucky to have so many world class plant breeders. Petunia Bubbles is a result of this. Bred specifically for the UK market, this is a range that will become more and more popular. These compact plants are ideally suited to containers, window boxes and hanging baskets, and are very tolerant of wet weather (something we suffer from). One of the key features of the Bubbles range is, they are very early flowering and are more tolerant of the cold than many other petunias. Now, if that is not a petunia that is perfect for the UK, I don’t know what is.
Trailing Geranium Ville De Paris
When it comes to hanging baskets and balcony plants, a trailing geranium is hard to beat. And if you love your trailing geranium, you will love the Ville De Paris range. These plants have been wowing gardeners across the world, with their beautiful flowers and long cascading stems, which can reach up to 3 foot in length. These easy to care for plants, will flower from early summer until the Autumn and are available in 5 eye-catching colours. These are a must have range for any geranium lover.
Dianthus Dinamic
The Dinamic range of Dianthus is one of those plants that are always easy to recommend. They are very tolerant of growing conditions, they flower their socks off (often from spring until late autumn) and there is an array of colours to choose from. This is the perfect plant for a container or edge of a border. Their natural compact habit and free flowering nature, means you will be treated to colour and interest, for over half of the year.
Lantana
Looking for a bright hit of almost tropical colour in a corner of the UK? Lantana maybe the answer. If you have not grown Lantana before you are in for a treat, this compact upright flowering plant, will bloom from late spring, all the way until the first frost. They are well suited to the garden or containers, where they will delight with their bright colours. But, it is not just us that enjoy these plants, they are very attractive to bees and butterflies too.
Upright Geranium Mosaic
I love a plant that gets more and more interesting as you get closer to it. From afar a Mosaic Geranium looks nice, but not dissimilar to any lovely upright Geranium. However, as you get closer, the plant gets better and better. This is down to its distinctive two-toned blooms which have splashes of combinations of colours, such as violet and white (in the case of Mosaic Violet). This is the perfect centre piece plant whether that be in a container, window box or the garden.
Climbing Geranium Antik
At Newlands Nursery we absolutely love these geraniums. But it’s not just us, our customers do too. If you are looking for a plant to make a statement, this is one for you. Growing to over 3 feet in height, these sturdy plants can produce an attractive column in a container, that will flower all through the summer, until the first frosts. This is a customer (and nursery) favourite.