Claire Austin , the award - deliver the goods nurserywoman and garden writer , has returned to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show after a 7 - yr break , score her 40 - year career in horticulture and the fortieth anniversary of her first visit to the show .
Celebrating the specialisms of her acclaimed plant nursery at White Hopton Farm in the Welsh Marches , Claire and her squad at Claire Austin Hardy plant life are staging two judged exhibits in the Great Pavilion ( GPF 92 A and 92B ) . One of the 4.5 m x 4.5 m courtyard gardens shines a spotlight exclusively on flag , and the other showcases brave perennials and peonies .
" We are thrilled to be back at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show march alongside our fellow nurserymen and divvy up our passion for peony , irises , and perennials with visitor , " said Claire Austin . " This has been a in particular challenging spring to prepare perennial for Chelsea . Peonies love strong Inner Light storey , and iris need lovesome temperature to add up into bloom , and in the Welsh Borders , we have had two months of cold weather and low - light levels . "
Iris Courtyard Garden exhibitThe Iris Courtyard Garden exhibit is planted with over 50 varieties of bearded flag in a spectacular range of colors , from stark white and pale pink to cerise , patrician , imperial , scandalmongering - orangish , brown , and deep calamitous , and the spectacular two - quality diversity .
At the midpoint of the Iris Courtyard Garden , local husbandman - florist Emma Cox of Luna Bloom has create a magnificent urn placement using bearded irises and the more touchy iris sibirica varieties as cut blossom . Popular with flower farmers for their flamboyant , frilled blooms and sword - like foliation , irises make beautiful cut efflorescence and last well in the vase .
Claire holds the National Collection of Bearded Irises and has successfully grown fields of whiskered irises in four different locating and soil conditions during her life history . Claire wants to share how gentle they are to grow in a garden background .
Two iris diaphragm varieties making their Chelsea debut are :
Iris ' Executive Order ' contain luxurious , sweetly scented flowers on strong stems . The easygoing blue - white standards are tightly ruffled and flush with gentle violet . The lucullan velvet , purple - black dip pale along to a fine line along the boundary , and as the petal curl upwards along the ruffles , the paler bottom becomes seeable .
Iris ' tabular array For Two ' : The flower on this good-looking plant have velvety dark brown falls with short river of white radiating from the yellow whiskers . The copper standards are heavy flushed with purple from the base upwards .
Perennial Courtyard Garden exhibitThe side by side Perennial Courtyard exhibit offers a contemporary turn on the bungalow garden , inspired in part by the front garden at White Hopton Farm . The soft textural planting has created a gentle tapis of recent spring unfolding perennial accentuate by the pop of earlyseason peonies such as ' Garden Peace , ' ' Raspberry Charm , ' and ' Cytherea . '
Aquilegia , bergenia , brunnera , centaurea , geranium , genus Geum , lamprocapnos , pulmonaria , stachys byzantina , veronica and blousy , spectacular paeony have amongst the flabby repeated planting . At the tenderness of the exhibit is an urn placement by Luna Bloom brimming with belated give perennials and peonies , favorites of artisan flower farmers and flush arrangers alike .
Claire ’s modern take on the bungalow garden is highly low upkeep . In other spring , Ric Kenwood , Claire ’s husband and business partner , simply strims the foliage and seedheads inthe front garden at White Hopton Farm back to flat coat storey .
Two of Claire Austin ’s plant intro are making their Chelsea debut this year : Alchemilla mollis’Cream Dream':Found some yr ago in the garden at White Hopton Farm , this stable variegate translation of the well - cognise ' Lady ’s mantle ' has round , scallop - edged , flabby dark-green leaves liberally splashed with cream . The leaves make a neat knoll that is less vigorous than the normal green version , and a froth of tiny , lime - immature flowers cover the hillock for much of the springiness and summer .
Geranium x oxonianum’Patricia Josephine ' : Selected from the many fearless geraniums that were seeded around my mother ’s garden in Albrighton age ago , this variety has proved to be an enduring plant ; full-bodied , devoid - efflorescence , and pretty . The very wan pink , wide - trumpet - alike flowers are sprinkle above a hillock of round , notched , mid - green leaf that have black maroon dots at the foot .
Open Days Thursday 8th June & Friday June 9th 2023Hot on the heels of 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 , June 8 , and Friday , June 9 , between 10 am and 4 pm .
visitant 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 works for cut-rate sale . The entrance fee will be £ 7.00 .
For more entropy : Claire Austin Hardy Plantswww.claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk
