The following three cultivars have been awarded the prestigious Fleuroselect Gold Medal for 2002. Fleuroselect is an international organisation which trials all the latest and greatest cultivars of bedding and container plants, and gives a Gold Medal to those that have been selected as the best.
	Viola 'Ultima Morpho' with its intriging butterfly pattern petals - resembling a rare Costa Rican butterfly after which it is named - and unique blue and yellow colour combination is an exiting new development in the ever popular garden pansy. It produces 5cm (2in) diameterflowers on compact plants. Seeds can be sown in autum and spring for winter and summer flowering respectively.
	Dianthus barbatus 'Noverna Purple' offers somthing that many gardeners have been looking for - a true 100% annual sweetWilliam, flowering 80-100 days after sowing. This means you can have flowers from May to the end of September the same year as sowing.
	Petunia 'Lavender Wave' is the latest in the Wave series of seed-grown trailing petunias. It has a long flowering period - May/June to October - and can be used as a trailer in tubs, baskets and windowboxes. One advantage it has over some other trailing petunias is that plants keep flowering along their length as the season progresses. But its main claim to fame is as a ground cover plant - making it perfect for keeping weeds down in the garden through summer and early autumn. Plants grow to 10cm (4in) high and an amazing 1.2m (4ft) wide. 'Lavender Wave' is also the British Bedding & Pot Plant Association's Plant of the Year 2002.