Clematis champion Raymond Evison awarded Pearson Medal at HTA Garden Futures Dinner

Nurseryman, lecturer, author and photographer Raymond J Evison OBE VMH, was presented with the HTA Pearson Memorial Medal at the HTA Garden Futures Dinner

which took place on 12 October at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire.

Having started his horticultural career at the tender age of 15 in Shropshire Raymond moved to Guernsey and set up The Guernsey Clematis Nursery in 1984. He is responsible for introducing over 100 clematis species cultivars in his lifetime and The Guernsey Clematis Company remains one of the largest specialist producers of young clematis plants supplying them worldwide via wholesale and retail channels.

As an author he has had great success with publications including ‘Making the Most of Clematis’, ‘The Gardeners Guide to Growing Clematis’, ‘Clematis for Everyone’ and ‘Clematis for Small Spaces’.

Raymond has had strong representation within numerous horticultural bodies both British and international including the International Plant Propagators’ Society, the National Council for Conservation of Plants and Gardens and the International Clematis Society, of which he is a founder member. In 1995 he was awarded the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour and in 2000 an OBE.

Presenting the award, HTA Chief Executive, Carol Paris comments, “It is with great delight that Raymond is the recipient of this year’s HTA Pearson Medal for his outstanding contribution and services to horticulture.”

“His horticultural expertise and business eye has led to the development of a one of the strongest plant brands in our industry and it is great that Raymond continues to share his wealth of knowledge with audiences in the UK and worldwide.”

Following on from the HTA Garden Futures Conference the dinner brought together retailers, growers, manufacturers and suppliers from across the garden industry. The charity partner for the event was Greenfingers and the audience heard from Chairman John Ashley, who spoke about the fantastic work that they do in creating magical gardens for childrens’ hospices. Following the announcement of the GTN Garden Retail Greatest Awards, horticulturist and broadcaster David Domoney provided an entertaining end to the evening sharing anecdotes about his exploits in the world of broadcasting and horticulture.

HTA Garden Futures 2016, sponsored by Hozelock and Scotts Miracle-Gro was held on 12 September at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire. Read more about the conference at www.hta.org.uk/gardenfutures

The Pearson Memorial Medal for outstanding service to the garden industry has been awarded by the HTA on an annual basis since it was instigated in 1930 in memory of the HTA's first General Secretary, Charles Pearson.