Among the new royal warrants granted by King Charles 111 are many that confirm how green-fingers our monarch is.
Barcham Trees Plc (www.barcham.co.uk) in Ely Cambridgeshire is the Royal Household’s preferred supplier of container trees. Its best-sellers include Betula utilis Jacquemonti (white Himalayan birch). Liquidambar styraciflua Worplesdon sweet gu, ad the first tree to leaf in spring and last to shed in autumn, Chanticleer ornamental pear which was bred by an American, Edward Scanlon.
Other royal favourites are Fairview Norway maples and Kaiser linden. Barcham is Europe’s largest tree specialist, growing over 200,000 “high-impact” trees.
Staffordshire’s Woodpecker Joinery is the King’s chosen timber greenhouse and cold frame manufacturer, using Western cedar and Monterey Accoya in their bespoke roundhouses, lean-tos, glasshouses and quarter spans.
Says a spokesperson : “We are extremely grateful and filled with pride to have been granted the warrant from His Majesty for our timber greenhouses and cold frames. This recognition holds great significance for our family business, and a testament to the efforts of our dedicated staff. Through this Warrant, we aim to continue our focus on quality & sustainability in British manufacturing”
Melcourt in Tetbury, Gloucestershire is the royally appointed purveyor of organic, peat-free growing mediums. Since 1983, Melcourt ( www.melcourt.co.uk) has supplied bark-based products to various sectors and they are now well-known as leading manufacturers of the multi-award-winning SylvaGrow® peat-free growing media range.
Managing Director, Andy Chalmers said, “It is an immense honour to receive a Royal Warrant from HM The King. All credit must go to our staff who have each played their part to make such an attainment possible.”
Cocker and Sons, Aberdeen are the royal household’s rose specialists while P, Jager &Sons Limited of Ulcombe, Maidstone, Kent are the royal bulb specialists. Founded in 1868 in Heiloo, Holland, in 1945 the business relocated to London and Marden in Kent. The company moved operations to its present site in 2012. Over 150,000 of its tulips are planted across eight historic locations in England including Chatsworth.
Comments a spokesperson : “We continue to supply only top quality and top size bulbs to all our customers, whether their orders are for a stately home or just a window box. The same grade bulbs will be sent!”
Delphinium and begonia specialists, Blackmore and Langdon ( www.blackmore-langdon.com) aere based at the Stanford Nursery in Pensford , near Bristol. Founded in 1901 by an engineer and a publican who grew begonia at the bottom of his garden and a gardener who met at the Bath Flower Show and whose children inter-married, carnations, lilies of the valley, canna lilies, cyclamen, aquilegia, phlox, gloxinia and Michaelmas daisies were also cultivate and sold in the abbey courtyard in central Bath. The firm is still owned and run by the Langdon family.
Popular delphiniums include Blue Jade, Conspicuous, the white Constance Rivett and deep pink Cymbeline.
Best-selling begonias include Angela Jane. Can Can, Chelsea Gold, George McCormick, Joyce Milhuka, Royalty, Party Dress, Scarlet Pimpernel and the scented 8” bloom soft coral John Smith.
The Guernsey Clematis Nursery at Braye Vineries, Route Militaire, Vale has been appointed as supplier of clematis cultivars to the Royal Household.
Raymond Evison, who was made a CBE in the New Year’s Honours List of 2023/4 , started his horticultural career at the age fifteen in Shropshire and became the Director of “Treasures of Tenbury Ltd” but the catastrophic winter of 1981, when temperatures dropped to -26C, killed a third of his 250,000 plant mother stock which necessitated him moving his clematis- breeding and growing operations to Guernsey in 1984 to take advantage of the milder climate and long-growing season.
Over 75 percent of the plants sold are hybrids that are the result of the Evison-Poulsen breeding program, which ran from 1995 to 2008. The breeding program focused on the needs of the end consumer, bringing compact plants that would flower on the shelves and for a longer period in the garden and that could be pruned and maintained easier. Over 100 cultivars were patented.
“I would love to bring scented varieties to the market. Every market asks for a different type of clematis. There is a market for dwarf clematis like Filigree and the Bijou which won an award in China.
Consumers all around the world would like to have a pretty garden but they don’t have the time and the space to grow large plants, so compactness is very important in these days.”
The Guernsey Clematis Nursery now produces approximately 3 million young clematis plants annually, for export to all parts of the globe, with its biggest markets being the UK, North America and Europe.
Author of “Making the Most of Clematis”, “The Gardeners Guide to Growing Clematis”, “Clematis for Everyone” and “Clematis for Small Spaces”, Evison formed the International Clematis Society.
In 1995, he was awarded RHS Victoria Medal of Honour for his outstanding service to British Horticulture. In 2000, he became an OBE.
The Nursery has won 33 Gold Medal at RHS Chelsea including 15 consecutive gold medals for RHS Chelsea exhibits including the Lawrence Medal for the best exhibit staged at the 2003 Chelsea Flower Show
In 2014, the team started its own clematis breeding program. Clematis Tumaini™ EviGsy151(PBR) was its first variety. It takes about 8-10 years from pollination to launching to market.
The latest releases includes Guernsey Flute EviGsy153(PBR), a large 3’-4’ star-shaped clematis with pure white flowers some 12-14cm (4½”-5½”) across, with brown/red anthers. It flowers from May through to July, with reliable repeat flowering into September.
Lindsay™ EviGsy152(PBR) has large, throughout summer-flowering, star-shaped deep purple/ blue flowers, some 12-14cm (4½”- 5½”) with red anthers. The clematis is named after Lindsay Reid, a former Director of the royally appointed nursery
Both are first generation varieties from Raymond J Evison’s new breeding programme.
Mr Evison comments: ” It’s a tremendous honour to be granted a Royal Warrant from His Majesty The King, not only for our company but Guernsey as well.”