The Spring 2016 Collection

Here come the emails! Are you suffering retail withdrawal now that Christmas shopping is over? Don't worry. Spring is coming... and with spring, comes the new spring collection.

I'm not baking a cake this year (and I've come to terms with the shame of that) so yes I have time - for a quick break from Christmas to see what's strutting down the garden path for 2016.

First up - the unexpected colour explosions collection. Think you know Amaranthus? You don't. Amaranthus has had a multicolour makeover. Amaranthus is a food crop - Fat Spike was probably an attempt to boost production that turned unexpectedly decorative. Some crazy has made a multigrafted Brugmansia - three colours on one plant; and if insufficiently dazzled, psychedelic bedding that will also please the bees; Calibrachoa Candy Bouquet and Bidens Beedance.

Next up - the global warming collection: can you grow exotic red-flowered sprawling/climbing shrub Glory Pea, aka the Lobster's Claw outside in the UK? We think so! So why not give it a go? Will your Mexican Dayflower (so achingly blue) survive the winter? Mulch it! It'll be fine! Will it be bright enough for Ancistus Australis, aka the Blue Angel's Trumpet? Worth a try! And what about your very own Frangipane? Give the British bees a thrill with something really exotic.

Finally - the dark collection. Flowers for gothic drama, with betrayals and beheadings. Chop them down and put them in your cruellest vase, while reflecting that gardening is all about death, really: Snapdragon Black Prince, Eucomis Burgundy, dark and stabby - the sickly pallor of green Galtonia, the terrifying Fuchsia Voodoo and a properly dark Petunia - Table Red. Topping it off; the frankly terrifying Starfish Lily with its weird brown bobbly bits. Nothing is mentioned of its scent, but I note from elsewhere on the internet that it is nicknamed Carrion Lily, so not one to plant anywhere you'll be eating...

This mild winter, it feels like spring is here already. But this collection says 2016 will be hot, bright, vivid, decadently scented - tropical spring.