Gold award and royal visit at Chelsea
GUERNSEY Clematis’s stand at the Chelsea Flower Show has earned another gold medal and an encounter for owner Raymond Evison with His Majesty the King.
Mr Evison last met King Charles when he helped the-then Prince of Wales with clematis flowers at his estates and Chelsea saw the two men talking for about 10 minutes. ‘We talked about lots of things,’ said Mr Evison.
Monday also saw visits from the Lt-Governor, Lt General Richard Cripwell and his wife, as well as Dr Susan Wilson, founder of the Tumaini Fund, after which a new clematis has been named.
‘Dr Wilson was with us for about six hours,’ said Mr Evison.
The flower was entered into the new blooms competition but while making the shortlist, it did not take a prize.
‘But we were able to really promote clematis Tumaini, which I wanted to do for her,’ he said.
There are about 2,000 plants on the stand which have produced some 10,000 blooms and attracted a lot of interest from visitors.
Even as early as 9am yesterday Mr Evison said there were about 100 people looking around the stand.
He said he felt that this year is the first time since before the pandemic that Chelsea was back on top form.
‘I’ve had a look around the marquees and at some of the gardens. The standard of the exhibits in the marquees is very high this year and there are some exceptionally good exhibits.
‘There are some super-looking gardens and there was one from South Korea that I loved.’
