End of Season Survey

2007 has been a difficult year for garden plants, with lower night temperatures and higher rainfall than normal affecting flowering times and performance. The wet summer also seems to have caused an increase in the population of slugs, and these have been causing havoc in some gardens!

Despite this, many plants have been coping very well with the adverse conditions and it was great to hear so many success stories. We would again like to thank everyone who took the time to reply to our questionnaire.

According to the feedback that was received, many basket plants such as Petunia Surfinia, Viola Friolina and Begonia Illumination have performed particularly well this summer and in some cases, were still putting on great shows long past their intended flowering period. In fact, the Begonia Illumination has been so successful that we have decided to offer this in individual colours for 2008.

As well as the trailing varieties, Begonia Fortune has been performing very well. In our opinion, these plants are superior to the Non-stop varieties. The geraniums also, although flowering later than ususal, performed well once they did appear. We have scheduled these for an earlier despatch in 2008 so hopefully they will perform even better next year.

Other bedding plants that did extremely well included Diascia, Giant Flowered Fuchsia, Busy Lizzie Accent Select Mix, Dahlia, Cosmos Sonata, African and French Marigolds, Portuluca, Ipomoea, and Osteospermum.

Although this has been a difficult year for some outdoor vegetables, Runner Beans did do particularly well. In fact we had a lot of requests to include more outdoor vegetables in our future ranges and we are pleased to be extending our range for 2008.

High rainfall causes nutrients such as nitrogen to be washed from the soil more quickly, reducing the amount of food available to plants, whilst lower night time temperatures delay the flowering periods of some species. The poor conditions seem to have had a particularly bad effect on some outdoor vegetables, such as tomatoes and courgettes, which have been very late to ripen this year. Meanwhile, flowers such as Sunpatiens have suffered from the cooler temperatures in some areas and have been very late to flower.

It is never easy to accurately forcast the weather conditions for the next season so far in advance, however we have made a few changes to next spring's range that should help us to cope with any unexpected conditions in 2008. For a start, most of the plants from our new range have been scheduled for an earlier despatch. For some varieties, we have also programmed different batches to be ready for delivery at different times of year. This allows you to choose the month in which you want your plants to be delivered, allowing greater flexibility.

We have a number of changes planned for the website this year. This includes a far greater amount of content aimed at new gardeners, providing detailed advice, articles and tips. We have also increased the amount of information provided in our Monthly Tips section and we hope that you will find this resource useful.

In addition to these changes, we will of course also be offering a far wider range of plants in 2008 than we have done in previous years. As well as extending our existing ranges of garden plants and organic vegetables, we will be introducing new ranges of perrenials, climbing plants and ornamental grasses.

Finally, here are a few of the comments that were made in your responses:

"I've been very impressed indeed with the plants you have sent out. So have the slugs :-( It was unusually damp and this really killed off any chance I have had of success against the slugs. However I plan to try again next year."

"Web site easy to navigate and no hassle in ordering all plants arrived in good condition."

"Petunias were and still are, out of this world. The comments I have heard from neighbours have been lovely. Begonias excellent also."

"Excellent, easy to use website. Very helpful staff sorting out my ordering mistake (!) Free postage of course also makes a big diference."

"My least successful were the geraniums, although they have picked up during late August and September following a slow start due to the weather. It will be a shame to take them out soon to make way for bulbs and winter bedding."

"I was very impressed with the good condition and effective packaging of your plants - way the best I've come across in the mail order business."

"Your alternative to the non-stop Begonia, I have forgotten the name, has been outstanding. It still is producing profusions of beautiful flowers. Will be coming back for plenty more next year."

"I'm not a keen gardener and this is the 1st time I've bought flowers from a website, but I have no complaints to make and I know for a fact that I'll be buying my summer plants from yourselves again and again."

"As usual 120 begonia bedding plants were a great success, as were the three pin-striped dahlia plants, they have been brilliant.

My three different types of tomato plants however were a waste of time, plenty of tomato`s,but very few turned red."

"I like plant connection because it is so easy to use on the website and the prices are very competitive. I wish that you did more vegetable plants though, because I hate growing seeds, they never take up in my garden."

"My most successful plants this summer were the Cosmos Sonata Mixed. They are still giving me a lot of flowers and gave me a lot of joy this summer with their beautiful colours. I will definitively reorder some next year.

My least successful were the Sweet Pea Galaxy Mix. I had hardly any flower and all the leaves became dry and yellow very quickly. All in all a disaster!"

"Unfortunately I didn't have any success with my bedding plants. Too much rain and not enough sun produced an abundance of slugs and they ate most things...

I think Plant Connection is a very good supplier. Your plants are always well packed, strong and healthy. Damaged plants are replaced immediately. Your prices are very competitive. I don't buy plants from anywhere else now.

I have no complaints. I recommend you to friends and will continue to buy from you as long as your good service and reasonable prices continue.

I can't think of anything you can do to improve what is already the best service I have experienced in plant buying. Perhaps some planting instuctions and some plant markers. I do find that when the plant plugs are potted on in my greenhouse I can't work out what's what sometimes."

"Just to say that your begonias and busy lizzies were absolutely beautiful this year. As a non-gardener they were foolproof and I've had a whole summer of lovely blooms. Your website is a treat, so attractive and easy to use, ordering is simple and delivery reliable and well-packaged. Bravo. I have no need to shop anywhere else."

"I only ordered Portuluca from you and have been so pleased with them and will certainly order them next year."

"After a really bad summer it didn't stop the little diascia cheering us up with an abundance of their little flower heads. On delivery they were well packaged and so no damage, good strong root system that got them off to a really good start."

"What I like most about Plantconnection-your very quick and friendly response to a mix up of an order.Not only did you send me a double order of the violas I ordered, but you didn't charge me for the other violas sent by mistake AND identified the variety for me. Many thanks. You were very approachable and easy to deal with."

"I ordered bedding plants from several sources this year, and yours were of a very high quality. Even the petunias I listed as performing least well were actually satisfactory, and I only ordered 3 packs of plants. Now I know the quality you offer, I'd be happy to order from you even if you did not offer the lowest price."