The honour bestowed in His Majesty the King’s New Years honours list was a complete surprise with Raymond saying “To become a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) is a tremendous honour for our family, The Guernsey Clematis Team, for Horticulture, for Guernsey and for myself“.
Evison is a multi-award winning horticulturist with an OBE, RHS Victoria Medal of Honour, RHS Reginald Cory Memorial Cup, Garden Media Guild awards and gold award winning exhibitor at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The 2024 Chelsea Flower Show exhibit will be part of their 40th Anniversary celebrations of the formation of The Guernsey Clematis Nursery Ltd which is now a respected global supplier clematis plants.
Evison has spent six decades searching for, breeding and developing the worlds best clematis, often sold in their distinctive blue pot from Raymond’s Guernsey Clematis Nursery. He has developed and introduced over 100 Clematis varieties and cultivars which feature in his gold medal winner Chelsea stands.
Born in 1944, Evison started his horticultural career at the age of 15 in Shropshire. He moved the clematis operations to Guernsey, in the Channel Islands where he set up the Guernsey Clematis Nursery in 1985.