Holding flower back, shy son presents plants (9)

I believe the answer is:

seedlings

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'plants' is the definition.
(seedling is a kind of plant)

'holding flower back shy son presents' is the wordplay.
'holding' indicates putting letters inside.
'flower' becomes 'dee' (River Dee).
'back' is a reversal indicator.
'shy son presents' becomes 'slings' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'dee' backwards is 'eed'.
'eed' put within 'slings' is 'SEEDLINGS'.

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(Another definition for seedlings that I've seen is " Little plants".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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