New plants: Rosa ‘Peter’s Persica’
The inaugural winner of the Peter Seabrook Award for Best New Plant at the BBC Gardeners’ World Live show is a sparkling new patio climbing rose chosen and named by Peter himself
The 2023 BBC Gardeners World Live show saw the launch of a new plant award – The Peter Seabrook Award for Best New Plant at the show. A hundred late-flowering plants were entered for the award, which followed a month after the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant Of The Year.
Honouring Peter Seabrook
To be considered for the Peter Seabrook Award, plants entered must be new varieties, colour breaks or characteristics that improve on an existing variety, and not available for sale to the public before BBC Gardeners’ World Live opens.
Persica roses are derived from Rosa persica, a rose native to Iran and Afghanistan. Already holding the prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit. ‘Peter’s Persica’ is a new climbing variety boasting bicoloured blooms that are golden yellow with an orange centre.
Renowned horticulturist and veteran Chelsea Flower Show judge Jim Buttress, who chaired the assessment panel, said: “The individual flowers of rose ‘Peter’s Persica’ really struck the assessment panel. They’re unique in a climbing rose, and befit somebody who dedicated their life to finding something different.”
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The late Peter Seabrook
The late Peter Seabrook
Shropshire-based rose breeder Chris Warner, who developed the rose, said: “‘Peter’s Persica’ has been 30 years in the making, beginning its life as a desert rose in Iran, so I’m thrilled that it’s won the Peter Seabrook Award. It’s a climber but very easy to manage, growing to around 2.4m (8ft) and producing a column of colour from early June to late December.”
