Following its success at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May, Thompson & Morgan’s in-house-bred sunflower, SunBelievable™ ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ has won more awards and accolades.

East Anglian Daily Times: Paul West of Thompson & Morgan with the Farwest Award, from the USA, for the horticultural company's new - Sunflower SunBelievable Brown Eyed GirlPaul West of Thompson & Morgan with the Farwest Award, from the USA, for the horticultural company's new - Sunflower SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl (Image: Archant)

It is proving hugely popular in the USA for the Ipswich-based specialist plants and seeds firm.

The new sunflower was awarded the Retailers’ Choice Award at the FARWEST Show in Portland, Oregon, as well as the 2018 American Horticultural Retailers’ Choice Award at Cultivate Ohio.

In the UK, at the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) National Plant Show, SunBelievable took gold in the annuals category, as well as the Best in Category (Annuals) and the Visitor Voted Best in Category (Annuals).

The long-flowering sunflower also won the 2018 Four Oaks Trade Show ‘Best Plant Introduction Bedding or Pot Plant’.

Thompson & Morgan’s Head of Horticulture, Paul Masters, said: “We’re very proud to have won so many prestigious awards for SunBelievable™ ’Brown Eyed Girl’ both in the UK and abroad. To have gained international recognition for our fabulous sunflower is a great success for Thompson & Morgan.”

With online and catalogue sales topping 100,000 plants in the UK, SunBelievable™ is also proving to be incredibly popular in the USA where it has been well received at all the top trade shows and in trials prior to its retail release in 2019.

“Customer feedback for SunBelievable™’Brown Eyed Girl’ has been extremely positive” says Peter Freeman, Thompson & Morgan’s New Product Development Manager.

“We’ve been amazed at the plants’ performance this summer – particularly through the heatwave and drought conditions. Those that were planted in the first half of the summer are still flowering now.”

At Thompson & Morgan’s Floral Fantasia garden at RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Essex this summer, at which hundreds of varieties of annuals were on display, SunBelievable™ ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ proved to be the favourite of the majority of the almost 140,000 visitors.