Top 10 plug plants

Start your border perennial displays with easy plug plants
Image: Delphinium 'Dark Blue & White Bee' from Thompson & Morgan

Plug plants are an easy way to fill your garden with colour and offer great value for money. Delivered in the post at the optimum time, all you need to do is pot them on and plant them out. Here’s a list of our most popular plug plants for quick, reliable and high-impact displays. 

1. Begonia plug plants

Vibrant begonia flowers look fantastic spilling out of containers
Image: Begonia 'Non-Stop Fire' from Thompson & Morgan

Begonia plug plants are an easy and economical way of quickly filling your containers and baskets with huge flowers. Smaller plug plants are best potted up and grown on, but jumbo plugs or garden-ready plants can go straight into their final containers after all risk of frost has passed. 

Begonia plants are a fantastic addition to beds, borders, hanging baskets, Flower Pouches® and just about any patio container you can think of! Producing a long-lasting display of bright and showy flowers, begonia plants keep going until the first frosts.

2. Petunia plug plants

Petunias produce a delightful range of flower colours and patterns
Image: Petunia 'Easy Wave Ultimate Mixed' from Thompson & Morgan

Petunia plug plants are easy to grow on, and provide a rewarding display in beds, containers, hanging baskets and Flower Pouches®. Trailing Petunia plants such as the Surfinia varieties are our most popular, but there are plenty of other unusual and eye-catching varieties available. These half-hardy annuals look spectacular spilling from hanging baskets and containers, or planted en masse in flower beds where they keep flowering until the first frosts.

3. Fuchsia plug plants

Fuchsias are hardy plants with fantastic flower power
Image: Fuchsia 'Jollies Nantes' from Thompson & Morgan

Fuchsia plug plants are an elegant addition to summer hanging baskets and containers, and most varieties are cold hardy too. Trailing fuchsia plugs can be transplanted straight into hanging baskets and containers for instant impact, while climbing and upright varieties can be positioned for maximum impact. Available in a range of colours, fuchsias are a great way to brighten up corners of the garden that experience part or dappled shade. 

4. Dianthus plug plants

Dianthus produce gorgeously patterned compact flower heads
Image: Dianthus 'Gran's Favourite' from Thompson & Morgan

Dianthus plants, also known as carnations, pinks and sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus), can take a whole year to flower from seed! For quick and instant results start with dianthus plug plants. Once potted up, your plugs will quickly start to flower and return year after year. 

These hardy perennials are cottage garden essentials and perfect for the front of sunny borders where they add both colour and fragrance. Dianthus flowers are also superb for cutting, lasting many weeks in a vase.

5. Geranium plug plants

Geraniums are unrivalled for vibrant red colour
Image: Geranium 'Best Red' F1 Hybrid from Thompson & Morgan

Tender geranium plants (pelargoniums) are slow to grow from seed, requiring many months of nurturing. Geranium cuttings require over-wintering, which takes up lots of space and time. Geranium plug plants are a much easier alternative - their strong growth will quickly fill out beds, hanging baskets and patio containers with clear, vibrant colour. 

With a wide range from which to choose including trailing, climbing, upright and unique rosebud varieties like ‘Appleblossom Rosebud’, you’re sure to find a pelargonium to suit your needs. Check out our guide to growing geraniums from plugs to get yours off to the best start.

6. Pansy plug plants

Pansy flowers bring cheer to the colder months of the year
Image: Pansy 'Mystique Blue Halo' from Thompson & Morgan

Pansy plug plants and violas, their smaller relatives, give months of pleasure in beds, borders and containers. Winter pansies inject a welcome splash of colour when most other plants are dormant, making an invaluable addition to autumn, winter and early spring container displays. Save yourself the hassle of growing pansies from seed and order value-for-money plug plants for a quick and easy display!

7. Wallflower plug plants

Enjoy colour and scent from your wallflower plants
Image: Wallflower 'Artist Paintbox' from Thompson & Morgan

Wallflower plug plants are a popular cottage garden favourite, valued for their fragrance and range of vibrant spring colours. Most often treated as biennials, wallflower seeds need sowing a year in advance, and the seedlings require nurturing and potting on through the hottest months of the year. 

Wallflower plug plants are a much easier way to quickly fill your beds, borders and patio containers with low-maintenance colour, taking all the hassle out of growing these gorgeous flowers. Happy in even the poorest of soils, wallflowers are a versatile and undemanding addition to your garden!

8. Primrose and polyanthus plug plants

Primrose flowers usher in the beginning of spring
Image: Primrose 'Everlast' from Thompson & Morgan

Primrose and polyanthus plants are popular for their bright spring flowers, they’re so easy to grow and provide a reliable display from late winter through to late spring. Primrose plants take a year to flower from seed, making plug plants a much quicker and more reliable solution. 

Primrose and polyanthus plug plants are a convenient way to fill your beds, borders and patio pots with an array of sparkling colours. Their delicate sweet fragrance is an added bonus. 

9. Lobelia plug plants

Plant lobelia in raised containers to enjoy the bright floaty blooms
Image: Lobelia 'Cascade Improved Mix' from Thompson & Morgan

Lobelia plants are tiny when young and take a long time to reach flowering size, so buying them as plug plants saves you the hassle of growing Lobelia from seed. These dainty flowers create a wonderful dense waterfall of colour, softening the edges of container displays and making great fillers in hanging baskets. Flowering all summer long they’re a hard-working addition to your patio displays and bedding schemes.

10. Tomato plug plants

Kick start your crop with tomato plug plants
Image: Tomato 'Summerlast' from Thompson & Morgan

Tomato plants are one of the most popular vegetables to grow, with non-stop crops from mid-summer through until autumn. Home-grown tomatoes also taste far superior to those from the supermarket. Tomato plug plants are timed to arrive at exactly the right stage of growth to simply harden off and plant out. Just wait for the last frosts to pass. 

With a range of bush and cordon varieties, you can grow tomatoes in a greenhouse, vegetable bed, patio containers or even hanging baskets! Take a look at our How to grow tomatoes article for more growing information or check out our dedicated tomato hub page.

We hope we’ve convinced you to give plug plants a try in your garden. Find loads more great bedding plant tips and advice over at our bedding plant hub page.