David Austin
This year David Austin Roses will be exhibiting at Chelsea for the 30th time. The company is famous for its wonderful English Rose varieties such as Rosa ‘Graham Thomas’ which was voted the world’s favourite rose in 2009. David JC Austin, son of the founder David CH Austin, gives us a taste of what Chelsea means to him.
RHS What effect does exhibiting at Chelsea have on your business?
DA We see Chelsea as a must-do event. Of all the flower shows in the world it’s the premier bar none. It attracts the keenest, most passionate and knowledgeable gardeners, so it’s easily the most important show we do. It’s also a really good team-building exercise for our staff too.
This year is going to be interesting as it’s been cold for so long. It should be fine, but you never know.
Royal Horticultural Society How do you prepare for the show?
David Austin I’ll probably be thinking about next year’s stand while I’m putting up this year’s! Michael Marriot, my father and I all get involved in the design and we normally take about 150 different rose varieties to the show. We have to bring them into flower a month to six weeks early by giving them extra heat, but it’s hugely challenging to make them look natural when you have to force them to flower for the show.
We have a dedicated greenhouse for Chelsea which has three different climate environments as well as a shade house. This along with the open air and the cold store gives us six different locations to juggle them around in. Really hot weather or a late frost just before the show is the worst possible scenario. This year is going to be interesting as it’s been cold for so long. It should be fine, but you never know.
RHS What do you think about recent design trends at Chelsea?
DA The flowers disappeared over the last couple of shows, everything was green and I wondered what the heck is going on! That to me is not what Chelsea’s about. It should be about beautiful plants and flowers. I don’t like this minimalistic stuff at Chelsea really.
RHS Which is your favourite rose?
DA The same as if you asked, ‘Which is my favourite child?’ There isn’t one, I love them all. How can you compare a beautiful yellow rose like Rosa ‘Golden Celebration’ with a fantastic pink one like Rosa ‘Eglantyne’? There may be the odd one that’s not so favourite, but it would be cruel to pick them out!