Interviews with the stars
David Austin (OBE) - rose breeder
RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a regular pilgrimage for rose breeder David Austin. This year David Austin Roses launched several new rose cultivars.
“Roses are very difficult to show,” admits David Austin, surrounded by a sea of fragrant blooms, “they don’t lend themselves to forcing.
“When I came in to the show last night (Sunday 18 May) it all looked marvellous, there's a real freshness about it.”
He is particularly pleased with one of the new introductions for Chelsea 2008 - Rosa ‘Sir John Betjemen’. “It’s a very strong and healthy shrub rose that is almost completely disease resistant.”
“It has been a particularly good year for breeding this year, the seedlings on the benches look very promising and I have high hopes for the latest batch, though they won’t reach the market for seven or eight years.
“Gardening generally has a lot of clipped yew and box topiary and they are very suitable for our roses. We’ve created a riotous effect of roses here with the clipped and formal box edge that lends itself perfectly. I have high hopes, I don’t see why we shouldn’t do very well.
“All the show gardens are very nice if you have a small or medium sized garden, but you wouldn’t want to create them in a vast garden where it would need a lot of management. A garden is a place where you have flowers.
“Chelsea is the best flower show in the world. We sell our roses under license all over the world and there is nowhere else like Chelsea, we couldn’t do without it. I think it is funny that in the papers they say that there is a decline of Chelsea. I don’t agree, look around here. The small exhibitor is kept out and there should be some way to work your way up. We came here with a little stand when we had our first English roses about 30 years ago. It was a modest exhibit but they were the attraction of their day.”
Interview by Jean Vernon