The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) issued by the Royal Hoticultural Society (RHS) helps gardeners find reliable, consistent plants that will provide particularly good value in the garden.The award is granted after trials at the RHS’ garden at Wisley in Surrey and/or assessment at specialist collections or discussion at meetings. There is a set list of criteria that plants have to meet to be deemed worthy of the AGM. For more information on the AGM please visit the RHS Website.
Nursery owner, Tim Fuller, has been involved with judging the trials at RHS Wisley since 2008.
Low growing clumps/patches of blue/green leaves with silvery margins. Short stems bearing clusters of apple green flowers which turn rusty-red from spring. 20cm.
Popular form of Wood Anemone for its bright white flowers with a ruff of bright white petalloid stamens giving a near double look. Low growing spring flower for shade and ordinary soil. 15cm.
Amazing white spathes with pink candy stripes inside appear slightly before the leaves in late spring. Big rounded trifoliate leaves make an attractive feature later. Good soil that never sits wet in shade. Flowers to 30cm, leaves to 75cm.
AGM Grey leaves with nearly white undersides and long tapering spikes of white flowers from midsummer into autumn. Deciduous, best in a sheltered position in full sun in drained soil. 2m.
AGM TENDER winter flowering species for a cold greenhouse or conservatory, or possible a very warm, sheltered garden. A bushy shrub with grey-green downy leaves and big spikes of strongly scented mauve flowers. 2.4m.
Very pretty cream margined selection of Box. Grow it as a free standing shrub and don't clip it for the best effect - this also seems to reduce problems increasingly seen with box. 1.2m in 10 years if you're lucky.
AGM A low growing shrubby plant making a patch in time, studded with brilliant blue flowers from midsummer into autumn. Excellent for autumn foliage colour. 30cm. Drained soil in sun.
Glowing greenish yellow winter stems are the main reason for growing this dogwood. Small clusters of white summer flowers followed by white berries. 2.4m if you don't cut back to a stump every year..
A recent introduction from Kurt Bluemel. Dwarf growth to only 1.4m. Steely grey foliage and warm buff flowers from July (rather than October as with other cultivars). Full sun, evergreen.
AGM A good clear, rich yellow form with arching spikes of upward facing flowers in mid to late summer. Drained, but good soil in full sun for the best flower. 90cm. From Rowallane in N. Ireland.
The King. A very popular form with multiply divided ends to the pinnae - cristate - giving a ruffled look to the fronds. Rich green clumps to 75cm. Shade, even fairly dry.
AGM An attractive semi-evergreen fern with light green fronds with black hairy stems. A fairly compact species to 60cm for ordinary soil in shade. Syn. Dryopteris atrata - the Black Wood Fern.
A splendid form of the native Male Fern with fronds that beome very finely divided and thread-like as the plant matures. Excellent deep green foliage for a shady corner, semi-evergreen. 90cm.
AGM Near white flowers soon flush pink then near purple on dark burgundy stems over clumps of striking leaves the same colour. Full sun, drained soil. 60cm.
TENDER AGM Rarely seen now this vigorous species from Mexico has large pale green leaves and big bunches of incredibly long tubed orange-red flowers with distinct creamy-green sepals. Potentially 2m!
AGM A elegant species with slender bright reddish pink flowers with purple corollas and red filaments. Smallish but broad leaves try to be evergreen. Borderline hardy - drained soil in a sheltered position, light shade. 60cm?
A really good bulbous plant for a sunny, well drained site. Funnels of broad greyish leaves and strong upright stems with spikes of large white bells in summer to 90cm.
AGM This brilliant hybrid from Cambridge Botanic Garden has intense blue flowers with white centres from May to July and September onwards. Open position in average soil. 60cm x 90cm. Named after a street in Cambridge.
(Geranium sanguineum x Geranium procurrens) AGM This Alan Bremner hybrid has intense reddish-pink flowers with bluish-purple shading over mounds of finely cut leaves from June to November. Average soil, sun or shade, 25cm. Brilliant.
(Geranium clarkei ‘Kashmir Purple’ x Geranium collinum)
AGM A mound of finely cut leaves covered with large open flowers in light purple from May to November. Unsurpassed for effectiveness. For reasonable soil in sun. 50cm.
A recent introduction with very compact growth and masses of small deep pink flowers in late spring. Not really a groundcover but a spreading patch to 15cm high.
AGM Pure white flowers without the usual pink calyx. Introduced from Mount Olympus by Liverpool Botanic Garden. Shame Vits didn't have this for her "pale garden"! Deciduous.
