This Is Chelsea Flower Show’s 2023 Plant of the Year

At the recently concluded Chelsea Flower Show, The Royal Horticultural Society named Agapanthus Black Jack as its 2023 Plant of the Year. 

The perennial is described as having black buds that open into dark purple flowers, making it a good choice for those who want greenery with striking colors. Its small size, meanwhile, makes it ideal for small gardens.

As for its hardiness, the plant is quite resilient. It can adapt to a number of climates and soil conditions, as well as tolerate heat and drought. It also produces 10 times more florets per flower head, giving it a lengthy flowering period from mid-summer onwards.

What this all means is that this prized plant won’t easily die in the hands of an inexperienced gardener. Hooray!

“It’s the darkest of all the agapanthus, and what the breeders have been so clever at doing is creating darker flowers, creating bigger flowers, but also creating plants that send up more flower spikes,” said Peter Freeman, new product development manager at the seed firm that developed Agapanthus Black Jack. And it took 15 years for it to come to fruition, according to the BBC.

The 2023 Plant of the Year winner is now available at Hoogeveen Plants in the Netherlands and T&M in the U.K. Hopefully, it will be available in other parts of the world soon.

The RHS also announced the second- and third-placers at the competition: Japan’s euphoria pink hydrangea, which has blooms that change colors as the temperature rises, and weigela camouflage, a shrub that produces clusters of trumpet-like, ruby-red flowers. Stunning!