Cornish nursery marks 40th birthday at RHS Chelsea

The theme of the 2023 gold-winning garden was 'Trees for Climate Change'

A Cornish garden nursery will celebrate its 40th birthday in style this week at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The team from Burncoose Nurseries at Gwennap, Cornwall has been no stranger to Chelsea success.

Since 1984 it has amassed 27 prestigious gold medals and has only missed one show, in 2021, due to Covid-19.

Finishing touches to the 2024 garden would be made right up to the last minute.

Molly Jackson and lead designer Cressy Knucky (R) working on the 2024 show garden

Burncoose was officially opened in March 1984, with six employees, a single phone line and a caravan for an office.

Now the business said it employed more than 40 people and its website gets more than 1.5 million hits a year.

But medals at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show have become a regular event, with

• 27 Golds

• 14 Silver Gilts

• 3 Silvers

• 2 Bronzes

• 2020 'Plant of Year' award for Viburnum 'Kilimanjaro Sunrise'.

The 1985 show garden was another gold medal winner

HM The Queen gave a Royal seal of approval in 1985

There was a strong family theme too - the lead designer for this year’s show garden is Cressy Knuckey, granddaughter of one of the nurseries' founders David Knuckey.

Senior partner Charles Williams said it was "wonderful" to be celebrating 40 years in business at Chelsea.

"This year we are featuring some exceptional small trees and large shrubs with dramatic architectural features both for smaller town gardens or larger woodland settings," he said.

"We’re looking forward to sharing these plants, as well as stories from our past 40 years, with visitors to the show.”