Cacti growers from West Bromwich scoop 9th Chelsea Flower Show gold
A green-fingered duo have continued their run of success after winning yet another gold medal for their cacti.
Business partners Stan Griffin and Vicki Newman only set up their West Bromwich firm Craig House Cacti in 2007 – but have since enjoyed near constant success.
Earlier this month, they won their ninth RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal.
Stan and Vicki's hard work and dedicated has earned them nearly 150 gold medals in total, including their nine at the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Stan said: "We are very pleased to get our ninth Chelsea Flower Show gold medal. It was quite a surprise because the last two years we got silver medals – and we could have resigned ourselves but it was a really nice surprise to win gold.
"In total, at various shows, we are getting towards the 150 mark for gold medals.
"But the Chelsea Flower Show is the pinnacle of the industry – it is the Wimbledon of the gardening world. These gold medals mean quite a bit to us, you can't get any better than the Chelsea Flower Show gold medal."
When appearing at Chelsea, the prickly plants tend to attract a lot of attention from celebrities. And this year, they posted photos on their Twitter account with Julian Clary, Kate Garraway, Rob Brydon, Nicki Chapman – and Strictly Come Dancing stars Craig Revel Horwood, Brendan Cole, Dianne Buswell and Joe Sugg.
Stan added: "Celebrities do take quite an interest in our cacti – it's nice to know they like to come and see. Over the last few days, we have seen Elaine Page and Julian Clary always pops in to see us. It was nice to see Nicki Chapman this week too, it was a nice surprise as she's been ill.
"We have different outfits for Chelsea every year, so people come year after year to see what we are wearing. Something like that makes people remember us."
For more information see www.craighousecacti.co.uk
