OCTOBER
People to Meet
Introducing the gardeners and public figures we most admire in British horticulture
Raymond Evison
RECOMMENDED
Raymond’s favourite gardens
INTERVIEW PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES NATIONAL TRUST/JONATHAN BUCKLEY; JOHN DE GARIS
The nurseryman and passionate plant hunter breeds clematis at his Guernsey nursery and is exhibiting at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show I left school at 15, after my headmaster said: “Evison, staying on is a waste of time.” My father was manager of what was then Treasures of Tenbury, a nursery with a fouracre garden at Burford House. I began edging the lawn there, which let me observe plants at different times of the year. Plantsman Percy Picton got me excited about clematis. He invited me to join him at Chelsea when I was a teenager, and after the show he would tell me about his work at Gravetye Manor and the clematis hybrids coming in from France. Slowly, I took over clematis at Treasures, and by 23 I was managing director. In the harsh winter of 1981, when Shropshire temperatures fell to -26°C, we lost a third of our plants, prompting me to move the clematis business over to Guernsey. I began a joint breeding programme with Mogens Oleson of Poulsen Roser A/S in Denmark. We predicted that by 2000 people would have smaller gardens and spend less time gardening, so we bred compact clematis with a longer flowering time. I have now bred over 150 new varieties. From pollination to market takes 8–10 years, and longer still for the plant to be accepted by the industry and
Hidcote Manor Gloucestershire Hidcote has inspired me since I was a young man. I used to visit it with my parents. It has several old Clematis viticella cultivars, some of which were almost lost to cultivation. Tel: 01386 438333; nationaltrust.org.uk
Spetchley Park Gardens
then the public. It’s hard to name a favourite, but ‘Corinne’ is one. This strong, multiflowering plant has white blooms with pale pink stripes. I love to hunt for plants. My first expedition was to China in 1981 and last April we formed a joint venture with Beijing Florascape to develop new clematis hybrids with plants from Guernsey and the wilds of China. It’s amazing to have this chance at 77, and I can’t wait to join the team there. In the meantime, I’ve set up a unit in the nursery for native
plants with my friend Chris Chatfield. We’ve raised 700 plants from seed, many of which are considered rare in the British Isles. We hope to save many special Guernsey plants from extinction. The postponed Chelsea Flower Show this year will let us show off around 50 different repeat flowerers. The recent heatwave has accelerated the growth of many of our plants, so fingers crossed we’ll be able to manage the timings! raymondevisonclematis.com
Worcester Spetchley is full of rare and unusual varieties, including some of the earliest plants that came into cultivation. I love searching for plants in the wild and this is a fascinating garden from a plant point of view. Tel: 01905 345106; spetchleygardens.co.uk
OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 9
