Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants

Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants will launch two brand new plants at the Chelsea Flower Show 2008. Gaura lindheimeri ‘Rosyjane’ and Campanula ‘Jenny’. Both of these varieties have been produced from Hardy’s own breeding stock.

Campanula ‘Jenny’ was found at the nursery in spring 2006 and has beautiful large cup shaped white flowers with a distinct blue central eye. It is a very free flowering perennial of the Carpatica strain and grows to about 25cm x 30cm, is a Good clump forming plant that flowers throughout the summer in a sunny site in reasonable soil. This Campanula can be used as a front edging plant or in containers mixed with grasses. The plant has been named after the wife of Hardy’s propagator after losing her long fight against cancer.

Gaura ‘Rosyjane’ is the first plant to be named after Rosemary Hardy and appropriately is one of Hardy’s own selection. The petals have a lovely picotee effect, pink edges with white centre. The two tone petals are the first of this type This is a classic Gaura in that it grows to 75cm x 45cm and is of the Siskiyou strain. Ideal conditions for this plant are full sun and good free draining soil. A brilliant plant for the herbaceous border, amongst Campanulas, Grasses, Verbenas.

Other key plants for the 2008 display are Trollius x cultorum ‘Alabaster’, Centaurea montana ‘Carnea’, Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, Geum ‘Red Wings’, Ranunculus ‘aconitifolius’ and Rob Hardy’s personal tip for plant of the show; Geum ‘Bell Bank’

Trollius ‘Alabaster’ is the perfect plant for shade and sports exceptionally clear pale ivory coloured globe shaped flowers, It require moist conditions to flourish. A bog garden or stream edge are ideal. Centaurea montana ‘Carnea’ bears large, circular flowers in soft pink. These plants are attractive to bees and butterflies, and are good cut flowers. Centaurea are ideal plants with species suitable for the border, scree garden or rock garden.

Centaurea love hot, dry conditions, but many will thrive in any normal garden soil. Most will benefit from the sunniest position you can find, but can grow well in light shade.

Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ has glowing purple stems loaded with violet-purple flowers that bloom from June to October. With its gray-green aromatic foliage, it makes an attractive accent all summer long. Salvia ‘Caradonna’ should be planted in full sun in a moist well-drained area. To increase bloom time, it should be cut back after the first bloom. ‘Caradonna’ is a magnet for butterflies and bees. It is hardy for container gardening and provides excellent cut flowers. Blooms look wonderful next to Sedum ‘Matrona’, Achillea ‘Sunbeam’ and Nepeta racemosa ‘Snowflake’

Geum ‘Red Wings’ is a brilliant orange-scarlet and will delight visitors to your late spring and early summer garden. The beauty of this plant returns year after year asking little in return but full sun with a little shade and moist well drained deeply worked soil. Ranunculus ‘aconitifolius’ this lovely single white buttercup with dark green leaves is not like the typical wild flower. It is very beautiful and extremely useful for adding airy colour to a mixed border. Easy to grow, they require a soil that remains moist. Sun/partial shade. May-July.

Geum ‘Bell Bank’ produces a clump of crisp green, toothy leaves, above which in summer rise slender, branching, dusky stems,each branch terminating in a nodding bud that gradually lifts as it opens to display a beautifully formed circular head comprising a double row of peach pink petals. It is a perfectly delightful perennial, as yet little grown, and worthy of a place in all but the driest garden.

In addition to growing thousands of plants for their own stand at Chelsea, Hardy’s are also providing the herbaceous perennials for a growing number of show gardens, including the George Harrison Life to Life garden by Yvonne Innis and the QVC Garden designed by up and coming designer Sarah Price. Marshalls garden designed by Ian Dexter of Scenic Blue.

Rosemary & Robert Hardy are award winning nurserymen and have been growing herbaceous perennials commercially for the past 20 years, with their nursery appearing on national television and Rosemary regularly contributing to the Chelsea Flower Show and Hampton Court Flower Show TV specials.

The main reason for coming back is to maintain this excellent standard. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed as they have been consistent medal winners at RHS Westminster Flower Shows and Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, picking up a Gold for their first ever garden at Hampton Court in 2001, getting the double in 2004 and 2007 ( gold for floral and garden exhibits)

Robert’s voyage into horticulture was rather more unorthodox than Rosemary’s, he trained originally as a butcher, whereas Rosemary was immersed in plants and gardens from a very early age, taking inspiration from her Mother and Grandmother and ending up as a prize winning student at Writtle College. Plant car-boot sales followed and the nursery at Laverstoke was set up in 1991. They moved to the new purpose built nursery in 1997 at Freefolk Priors.

Rosemary’s PLANTING PLANS
Rosemary Hardy offers a unique garden consultancy service working with the client on border planting schemes and plant combinations to come up with the most suitable plants for the client’s garden.