Writtle College horticulture students have bred a new hardy pink-flowering plant variety named Little Writtle.

The Osteospermum variety is available to buy on plant mail order website Suttons Seeds.

The students at the Chelmsford-based land college bred and propagated the new plant in a five-year breeding trial.

Lecturer John Cullum, who led the trial, said: “Breeding a new plant that is commercially viable is a great achievement for the college and for me personally. It is wonderful that it will raise the profile of the college and the area through its name Little Writtle. We have been selling the plant at open days and received excellent feedback as it has such a distinctive, deep pink, solid colour.

“Several garden centres and nurseries are not keen to stock hardy Osteospermums as they can grow into large clumps of plants, unsuitable for a small garden. A number of the older varieties also do not flower for very long and some gardeners dislike them for this reason.

“Little Writtle is a dwarf form, which means it is less invasive, and it produces an abundance of deep pink flowers throughout the season, so can bring colour to a garden from May to October.”