Double medals, filming and a Royal Visit for Claire Austin
Nurserywoman Claire Austin is celebrating a double win at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show on being awarded RHS Silver-Gilt medals for both her courtyard exhibit of perennials and her garden of bearded irises. Claire’s achievement marks a successful return to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show after a 7 year absence as she celebrates her 40 year career in horticulture and the 40th anniversary of her first visit to the show.
“We are absolutely delighted to be back at Chelsea and so pleased to have been awarded two RHS Silver-Gilt medals,” said Claire Austin. “This spring of cold weather and low light levels made preparing plants for Chelsea particularly challenging. And we didn’t make it easy for ourselves, of course, by taking on two judged exhibits for the first time either! It’s been a tremendous nursery team effort and we are so happy with the result. Now we can’t wait to show our displays off to Chelsea visitors this week and then to open our Powys flower fields and perennial gardens for charity to plant-lovers on 8th and 9th June.“
Press Day started with live filming with Joe Swift for Episode 2 of BBC Gardeners’ World Chelsea programme. The BBC team had visited the nursery to film Claire’s preparations earlier this month in the beautiful Welsh Marches and wanted to catch up with her to see the finished displays. Chelsea Monday day ended with a visit to Claire Austin’s stand by Her Majesty Queen Camilla, who is a keen gardener and flower arranger.
The Iris Courtyard Garden exhibit is planted with bearded irises in a range of colours from pure white and pale pink to the cerise, blue, purple, yellow orange, brown and deepest black and the striking two-tone varieties. The adjacent Perennial Courtyard exhibit offers a contemporary twist on the cottage garden, inspired in part by the front garden at White Hopton Farm. The soft textural planting has created a gentle tapestry of late spring flowering perennials punctuated by the pop of early season peonies. At the heart of both exhibits is an urn arrangement by Luna Bloom brimming with irises, late spring perennials and peonies, favourites of artisan flower farmers and flower arrangers alike.
Open Days Thursday 8th June & Friday June 9th 2023
Just ten days after the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Claire Austin and her team will be opening their site at White Hopton Farm in Sarn near Newtown SY16 4EN on Thursday 8th June and Friday 9th June between 10am and 4pm.
Visitors will be able to explore the Claire Austin Hardy Plants peat-free nursery, the National Collections of Bearded Irises and Hybrid Herbaceous Peonies and the gardens at White Hopton Farm. There will be refreshments and plants for sale. The entrance fee will be £7.00.