It’s now 25 years since Claire Austin started her eponymous nursery, which specialises in hardy perennials, irises and peonies, and offers a mouth-watering catalogue of more than 1,500 different plants. “I’ve tried to reduce the number, but I just can’t resist them,” Claire confesses. It’s no secret that she is the daughter of the late, great rose grower David Austin, but growing up, it was her mother who influenced her most. “My father worked as a farmer then. It was my mother who was the gardener.”
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In her late teens, Claire followed in her mother’s footsteps and went to art college. After that she lived in Tanzania for a couple of years with her then husband. “When we came back, we didn’t know what to do. So John (my ex) and I started working for my father.”
Growing plants is one of the best things you can do. Gardening does everything for you – it’s physical, it’s creative and it’s good for the environment.
The year was 1983 and David Austin was becoming an established name in the rose world, having just introduced Rosa Mary Rose (= ‘Ausmary’) and R. Graham Thomas (= ‘Ausmas’) to great acclaim.
“My father was also diversifying into what he called florists’ flowers, such as peonies and irises,” says Claire. (She is now also a National Collection Holder of both bearded irises and hybrid herbaceous peonies.) “I started tending them, but I looked after the roses too, and the customers. It was more by default that I ended up in horticulture.”
In her early forties, Claire had a choice of starting her own nursery or doing something else. She has no regrets about the path she took.
“Nurseries are hard work, but they are so rewarding. Growing plants is one of the best things you can do. Gardening does everything for you – it’s physical, it’s creative and it’s good for the environment. It’s something everyone can do and share in.”
Nowadays Claire runs the nursery with her husband Ric and nine other staff. She feels lucky to be able to grow a wide range of plants from her rural location in the Welsh Marches, which accommodates both damp- and dry-loving species. And she has no interest in Plant Breeders’ Rights, believing firmly that plants should be shared as much as possible. That’s why she is always on the look-out for unusual varieties that might spontaneously pop up in her one-and-a-half-acre garden at White Hopton Farm.
“I never let anyone weed because I don’t know what seedling I might miss. I find so many things: geraniums, persicarias, pulmonarias, geums.” Irises are the only plant Claire actively breeds, and at the farm there is also her gorgeous and much-photographed bearded iris field, which on a warm day gives off an amazing aroma.
Her garden, which she opens to visitors once a year, has been described as ‘cottagey’, but she likes to call it organic. “I have lots of peonies and tree peonies and I grow everything through them.” Before anyone had really heard of them in the UK, Claire championed intersectional peonies. “They are excellent from many points of view – they have great leaves, are more shrubby and flower longer than standard peonies.”
I never let anyone weed because I don’t know what seedling I might miss. I find so many things: geraniums, persicarias, pulmonarias, geums.
Aside from her mother, another inspiration was the horticulturist Graham Stuart Thomas. “Graham was one of my father’s good friends. He was like a great-uncle to me.” Claire, who is dyslexic, recalls how Graham would help her with the text for her nursery catalogues. “I’d send him the copy and he would return it full of his tiny, spidery handwriting. His book, Perennial Garden Plants, had a big influence on me.” And Claire has gone on to write her own books – five in total – on perennials, irises and peonies.
Her Book of Perennials was reissued as a new edition in 2020, and continues to be a well-thumbed reference for gardeners around the world.
“I want to redo my irises book this autumn. Hopefully, I’ll publish it next spring.” Like a true entrepreneur, she self-publishes, and the results are both commercially successful and visually stunning. Her inspiring photos and design work are combined with clear, expert text. As she says: “I’m not very good at airy fairy. I’m very literal.”
Purple prose is not her thing, and her readers appreciate that. Down to earth and no nonsense, Claire is known for speaking her mind, and believes this is why she was recently asked to join the RHS Council, the governing body responsible for running the gardening charity.
“I’ve been there nearly a year and it’s been a fascinating experience seeing how it looks from inside the organisation. Having been a bit sceptical about it in the past, I am now most admiring of the RHS and how hard everyone works.”
Looking to the future, Claire says she doesn’t want to ever give up, but admits “it would be nice if someone else could take the reins, and Ric and I could potter around”. She’d like to have more time to paint, a hobby to which she has recently returned, but she’s prepared to go with the flow and see what happens. Claire’s approach to life, much like her garden, is organic.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Discover more about Claire Austin's pub and plant shop: The Sarn
The nursery is online only but hosts occasional talks and annual open days. Check website for details: claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk