{"id":21784,"date":"2023-05-09T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T07:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/?p=106221"},"modified":"2023-05-09T09:37:40","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T07:37:40","slug":"lincolnshire-pond-plants-on-their-first-chelsea-flower-show","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/rss_feed\/lincolnshire-pond-plants-on-their-first-chelsea-flower-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Lincolnshire Pond Plants on their first Chelsea Flower Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new nursery that specialises in water plants is facing one of its biggest and most exciting challenges this year \u2013 exhibiting at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the first time. Words Chris Young, Photographs Richard Bloom <\/p>

By Molly Blair\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 09 May 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Who would have thought that of all the places you could start an aquatic plant nursery, it would be in your mother\u2019s spare room? For David Reynolds, this is exactly where he found himself in 2016. His mother, Dawn Fisher, remembers it well. \u201cDavid was studying for a degree in computer science and one day was asked to help clear out a lake. Instead of throwing all the oxygenator plants away, he sold them on the internet and, not long after, decided to set up a plant nursery,\u201d she says. \u201cI was soon growing seeds<\/a> in my guest room and in the garden. It was crazy really.\u201d From that day, Lincolnshire Pond Plants was established and began selling the whole gamut of aquatic and marginal plants.<\/p>\n

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Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides<\/em> \u2018Crystal Confetti\u2019 (crystal confetti). This pretty perennial forms a carpet of miniature, four-leaved, clover-type leaves, edged with cream. A great oxygenator, the fibrous roots are good for removing nitrates. Pond life likes to hide among it. Oxygen plant. H 45cm. S 45cm+. D 0-25cm. RHS H4.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Richard Bloom<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Like all good businesses, this is a family affair born of drive and ambition. David soon stopped his computer course, his wife Kayleigh left her estate agency job, and Dawn gave up her teaching role. The north Lincolnshire-based firm grew rapidly, and exploited good internet savviness for sales. Now located on a 15-acre former RAF site, acquired in 2021, it has ten employees and sells more than 350 different plants through its website, at shows, at the nursery and via consultancy.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to have a lake to enjoy aquatic plants and all the wildlife they bring. <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>

So how does a nursery that is less than ten years old suddenly find itself preparing for its first RHS Chelsea Flower Show<\/a>? \u201cWe\u2019ve been on the show circuit a bit and that\u2019s given us a lot of experience of how to stage an exhibit,\u201d explains Dawn, \u201cbut when we received a Gold medal at RHS Malvern Spring Festival in 2022, I felt confident enough to apply for Chelsea.\u201d<\/p>\n

More from Chelsea<\/strong><\/p>\n