Viola ‘Bunny Ears’ – photo: Thompson & Morgan
WD Smith and Son is a family-owned business that has been growing bedding plants at their nurseries in Essex (UK) for almost 80 years. Since 1994 the company organizes a ‘Viola and Pansy Festival’ at their own garden centre. “The festival in 1994 was an unprecedented success; not only because of the attention the garden centre received, but also because with the support of the plant breeding companies it placed our business in the forefront of cultivar trialling for this important group of garden plants”, states the company on its website. “The festival has become an annual feature of our calendar and is now recognised as an international horticultural event, which is regularly visited by some of the principal viola and pansy breeders from around the world. Each year we invite our garden centre customers to vote for their favourite varieties. From the votes received, we compile our ‘Festival Favourite’ range of violas grown in 13cm pots.” This results in an ever-changing range of the very best varieties from around the world.
UK trade magazine Horticultural Week published this years’ visitors’ top ten with Thompson & Morgan’s Viola ‘Bunny Ears’ as favourite.
The top 10
Viola x wittrockiana ‘Bunny Ears’ – Thompson & Morgan
Viola Bel Viso ‘Orange Jump Up’ – Floranova
Viola Tiger Eye ‘Red’ – Floranova
Viola x wittrockiana Mystique ‘Blue Whiskers’ – PanAmerican Seed
Viola Rocky ‘Micky’ – Syngenta FloriPro Services
Viola Sorbet Xp ‘Morpho’ – PanAmerican Seed
Viola Sorbet Xp ‘Yellow Pink Jump Up’ – PanAmerican Seed
Viola Sorbet Xp ‘Yellow Jump Up’ – PanAmerican Seed
Viola Bel Viso ‘White Jump Up’- Floranova
Viola Sorbet Xp ‘Beaconsfield’ – PanAmerican Seed
Viola Deltini Xp ‘Honey Bee’ – PanAmerican Seed
