An Irish gardener has won gold for the second time at this year's Chelsea Flower Show in London.
Billy Alexander, of Kells Bay Gardens in Co Kerry, said he found out early this morning that he had won a gold medal for his ferns garden.
This is the third gold medal he was been awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), having previously won at the 2021 Hampton Court and Chelsea Flower shows.
President Michael D Higgins congratulated Mr Alexander on his win.
In a post on Twitter, President Higgins said: "Congratulations to Billy Alexander of Kelly Bay Gardens in Co Kerry on his wonderful achievement in winning a gold medal for the second time at the Chelsea Flower Show for his ferns garden".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Alexander said that to get the award "is just amazing".
He said he is "feeling fantastic. It's a great feeling to get gold once again at Chelsea Flower Show."
Mr Alexander said he has displayed at Chelsea three times and each time he has made the size of the exhibit bigger, and this one is 100sq/m.
He explained the difficulties in transporting the various plants, particularly the larger ones and said "it's much more difficult with Brexit" but he uses a specialist transport company to move everything.
"You're petrified when you open the doors, when they get to Chelsea, but first you have to do all the paperwork and the phytosanitary certificates and DEFRA, the authorities over here, and they have to check it. So, problems do occur, but thankfully none did."
Mr Alexander said that changes in climate have resulted in wetter weather at Kells Bay Gardens and storms are even worse, "but it's all good for the plants in Kells Bay."
He said he met Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla, who have some of his ferns in their private home, at the flower show yesterday.
"He has a collection of my ferns and I pop in once a year and just have a have a look at them, which is very nice."
Mr Alexander said winning the gold medal at Chelsea means it gives "more credibility" as a horticulturist.
"It's very fulfilling that your peers, the judges, the public" appreciate your work.
"It's the judges that give you the medal. So, to get that feedback is just amazing.
"And as one gets older, you're competing at the highest level, so it's very nice at my age to be competing at this level", he said.
The inspiration for this year's display came from the Irish landscape, and in particular the wild surrounds of Co Kerry.
The design simulates a Kerry bog, and along with a myriad of fern varieties, native sphagnum moss features amidst small peaty bog pools. Offsetting this, are large ancient rocks typical of the Iveragh peninsula landscape in Co Kerry.
