Awards announced at Chelsea 2013

The RHS has announced the winner of Best Show Garden and all the medals for 2013. It's also announced its Plant of the Year, Mahonia Soft Caress, which you can now buy exclusively at the Country Life Nursery.

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(Image credit: Neil Hepworth)

Trailfinders Australian Garden presented by Flemings has won the Best Show Garden at Chelsea Flower Show 2013.

Sponsored by Trailfinders, Fleming's Nurseries, Victorian State Government, Phillip Johnson Landscapes Designed by Phil Johnson (Phillip Johnson Landscapes) Built by Phillip Johnson Landscapes

The RHS says: 'Phillip Johnson has designed this innovative and sustainable garden that offers a relaxing and inviting ecosystem within an Australian urban environment.

Showcasing the possibilities of sustainable landscaping within an urban setting, a studio structure integrates seamlessly into this tranquil, relaxing garden, alongside a natural billabong and waterfalls.

Native Australian plants are used throughout the design. From lush ferns to bright kangaroo paws and bottle trees, the varied environments and weather conditions that make up the Australian landscape are represented by the planting scheme.'

Other gold medals were awareded to Arthritis Research, Brewin Dolphin, Laurent-Perrier, East Village, and Fleming's Nurseries, as well as Homebase, Kate Gould Gardens Ltd, M&G Investments, the Royal Bank of Canada and The Telegraph garden, designed by Christopher Bradley-Hole. 

In addition the RHS has awarded the Plant of the Year to Mahonia Soft Caress. As featured in Country Life last Wednesday, the plant is graceful and soft-leaved. Descended from the

Narihira mahonias bred in Japan and was only released into the nursery

trade late last year.

Unlike the familiar stiff, bristly and sombre

mahonias languishing in many a garden, Soft Caress is more suggestive of

ferns, palms or bamboo, but is small enough for pot culture (described

in COUNTRY LIFE, December 26, 2012). The COUNTRY LIFE Nursery is the

only current stockist of the plant in the UK- to buy yours now, visit

our dedicted nursery page for a discount on mahonia soft caress, or clik through the image above.

See below for the details of the medals awarded at Chelsea Flower Show 2013

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* Buy plants at the Country Life Nursery

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