Nursery wins fifth gold at Chelsea Flower Show

A nursery from Cornwall has won its fifth consecutive gold medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Penzance-based Surreal Succulents bagged the top prize for its exhibition of Succulents, a plant well known for its ability to thrive in dry conditions.

Boss Daniel Michael said he was "over the moon" with the judges' decision and highlighted the effort of his team to "grow, water, build, and put everything together".

The group has won gold at each of the last five shows, including the RHS Plant of the Year award in 2022.

"We walked into Chelsea this morning and were nervous but when we arrived we were relieved to see that lovely gold medal," Mr Michael told BBC Radio Cornwall.

He said the nursery's exhibition featured some plants which had been grown over the course of 15 years and some were a little more complicated to transport.

"It's quite difficult to get tall succulents into displays especially because you have to get them all the way from Cornwall and they risk falling over in the van when we drive over speed bumps in London.

"We carefully packed them in and held them in place with a soft tie to not damage the stems," he added.

"We also grow our succulents a bit tougher, so during in the winter we won't give them as much heat. We'll keep them as cold as possible so they don't go leggy and we'll give them as much light as possible to control their growth."

Elsewhere for Cornwall, Burncoose Nurseries scooped a silver gilt medal for their garden of Burncoose classics and plants normally found in the temperate rainforests around the county.

The Gwennap-based group has been attending the flower show for 41 years.

Another medal winner was first-time entrants Nick and Hannah Wade, from the Barnstaple-based Gardeners Delight Nursery.

They also walked away with a silver gilt award for their display of Geum plants.

The group's journey from north Devon saw them locked out of their accommodation on Sunday night and shut in Battersea Park while they were trying to find somewhere else to sleep.

Nick Wade, co-owner of Gardeners Delight Nursery, said it was all worth the wait: "This is amazing. We've been growing for about 35 years.

"When we started we never imagined we'd be able to do something like this, so for us it's probably the pinnacle of our horticultural careers."

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show runs until Saturday.

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