Shropshire successes at Chelsea Flower Show

David Austin Roses, based in Albrighton, has been awarded a gold medal for its Rose Garden exhibit. It takes the nursery's total to nineteen gold medals at the prestigious show.

Also celebrating are Wildegoose Nursery, from Munslow, near Craven Arms, which has won a silver-gilt medal for its violas.

David Austin Roses has unveiled new varieties of roses at this week's national event in London. The new varieties are Desdemona, a white rose with an exceptionally long flowering season and The Ancient Mariner, a floriferous rose larger than the average shrub. The Sir Walter Scott, which is a different character from the general run of English roses due to its Scottish rose heritage, was also unveiled at Chelsea.

The company pulled out all the stops to impress the judges and hopes to add to its impressive haul of 18 golds to date.

Lisa Day, of David Austin Roses, said: "Sir Walter Scott was aptly named for the much admired Scottish novelist and poet, and the variety was the result of a cross with a Scottish rose.

"We have long recognised the potential of the Scottish roses in the breeding process and Sir Walter Scott, with its distinctive charm and exceptional disease resistance, is a triumph from this line of breeding.

"The Ancient Mariner is an impressive variety, bearing masses of very large blooms almost continually from June until the first frosts.

"The pink buds gradually open to many petalled, incurved cups with a strong, warm myrrh fragrance.

"Desdemona is a charming rose of exquisite beauty that has an exceptionally long flowering season, producing blooms from early summer until the first frosts.

"Pretty peachy pink buds open to reveal beautiful, pure white blooms, with an attractive hint of pink at the earliest stage of flowering."

David Austin Roses added three more gold medals to its increasingly cramped cabinet last year after scooping awards for its spectacular display gardens at BBC Gardeners' World Live in Birmingham; the Courson Flower Show, just outside of Paris, and the Chelsea Flower Show, taking its total to an impressive 18 Chelsea golds.

David Austin started the company in 1969 and was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society in 2003 for his services to horticulture. The Chelsea show is organised annually by the Royal Horticultural Society and runs until Saturday.