A LEC WHITE, of Primrose Hall Nursery at Dingley Dell, is bucking the national trends in horticulture in all sorts of ways. At a time when many nurseries are fading away, due to the age of the owners or lack of financial return, he’s built up a successful mail-order business specialising in peonies of all kinds. He also attends all the major horticultural shows and his sumptuous and glamorous displays, using peonies grown at his eight-acre Bedfordshire nursery, culminated in a Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show of 2019. The judges admired the range and quality of the plants and the public were wooed by the shocking-neon sign proclaiming ‘Love Peonies’ above a pristine white bathtub containing floating peony flowers.
It was a remarkable achievement, given that Mr White’s first floral display had been only three years earlier at Birmingham’s Gardeners’ World Live. The RHS then had an Innovation Scheme sponsoring young nurserymen and women, so he was fast-tracked into the next Chelsea Flower Show as exhibitor numbers were dropping in the Floral Marquee. Sadly, that worthy scheme is no more.
Displaying plants is in Mr White’s blood. ‘My grandfather grew show chrysanthemums and that’s where my love affair with plants began. I would watch him, when I was very young, carefully curling the petals around a pencil and covering his prized blooms with paper bags.’ The aspiring plantsman was soon growing his own show chrysanthemums and winning gold awards, but the die was finally cast on a visit to the Hampton Court Flower Show with his grandmother when he was 12. ‘I was overwhelmed by the colour and thought it would be wonderful to win a gold medal.’
Denne historien er fra May 18, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra May 18, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
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'Without fever there is no creation'
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The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
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Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
