A trip to Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants gave me the chance to see their farewell to Chelsea display and talk about the show with Gardeners’ World presenter Adam Frost and top designer Sarah Eberle.
The nursery display by Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants has long been on my list of must-see things at RHS Chelsea. There’s always something to discover – a new introduction or simply a plant I haven’t encountered before.
Rob and Rosy Hardy are part of the fabric of the show – exhibitors for 29 years and winners of 24 gold medals – and a favourite among Chelsea visitors.
They’d planned to bow out of Chelsea in 2020 with their 30th display, which changed to 2021 with the cancellation of last year’s show. Now Chelsea has been postponed until September and the couple have decided that swapping a top class May display to an autumn one was just too difficult. So, instead they’ve created what would have their exhibit in the Great Pavilion at their Hampshire nursery.
Part of a Festival of Flowers run by sponsors Candide, the exhibit is open to the public until June when it will be adapted into a permanent wildflower, wellbeing garden for nursery visitors.
It was officially opened – fittingly on what should have been Chelsea press day – by Gardeners’ World presenter and designer Adam Frost before invited press and friends of the nursery.
It was, understandably, a bitter sweet event with the emotion obvious as Rob spoke of those “watching down on us who we’ve lost over the years”. These included their parents and Rob’s sister, a well known face at the shows.
Despite the slow start to spring making it what Rosy said was “not the easiest year to put any plants together”, the garden does not disappoint.
It’s stuffed with plants and full of planting inspiration – seeing her work copied is, Rosy told us, ” a really great compliment to anybody who puts up a display”.
An eye-catching centrepiece made from English chestnut resembles the upturned hull of a boat and forms a striking entrance to the garden. More wood is used for seating, and a rill of still water gives lovely reflections of plants.
The garden the attention to detail we’ve come to expect on an exhibit by Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants is apparent throughout from the way hard landscaping is softened by plants to the planting combinations.
There’s contrast in textures with a tree stump used to good effect in one border.
Contrast also comes in putting plant against plant with different leaf shapes and textures, such as Disporum sessile ‘Robustum Variegatum’ against the dark leaves of Rodgersia podophylla.
As ever there is something different to see. I’d not come across this before. It is cleverly placed against a backdrop of Anchusa ‘Loddon Royalist’, the yellow standing out beautifully against the blue.
This also lives up to its name – Salvia caradonna ‘Pink Inspiration’. I was tempted to add this pink form to my garden.
Someone asked me recently what I was looking forward to about a September RHS Chelsea and I replied that not seeing endless plantings of Iris ‘Jane Phillips’ would be one advantage.
It’s understandably a Chelsea favourite: reliable, May-flowering and beautiful but you can have too much of it. Seeing it on the garden made me smile.
The move to a September date for Chelsea is something I discussed with Adam Frost. The usual May is, we agreed, not the best time to make a garden with the British weather notoriously unreliable, as this year has shown.
“It’s not a great time to have the most famous flower show,” he commented, explaining that it contributes to the love hate relationship many growers and designers have with Chelsea.
“I can remember in 2012 putting trees in the ground that didn’t have leaves on them. That’s how intense it can be.”
He believes that an autumn Chelsea will also help encourage people who usually pack up their gardens at the end of summer.
“They start to disengage with the garden come September going into early October. I think in reality it’s some of the best times we have, the light changes and you get that lovely flower going into the autumn.”
And like all true gardeners, he keeps going year-round: “I think some of my favourite time in the garden is through the winter months. I love everything from digging, dividing, pruning.”
I suggested that Gardeners’ World finishing it’s run in the autumn didn’t help the idea that you can still garden over winter.
“I don’t think you’d have any problems convincing Gardeners’ World,” he said, “it’s more the BBC.”
Adam does think there may be more programmes along the lines of the winter specials that were so popular last year although he says there’s nothing official.
Also looking forward to Chelsea in September is designer Sarah Eberle – the most successful designer in the show’s history.
Her Psalm 23-inspired Sanctuary Garden for the Bible Society was also originally planned for 2020 and has had to be tweaked for the new September date although not as much as she feared.
“It’s very naturalistic so there’s lots of grasses and very soft, textural planting. When I had to review my planting with the nursery we literally after half a day cross emailed to say ‘Actually, I think it’s going to be even better in September than it would have been in May’.”
Spot colour that was originally going to be supplied by aquilegia and digitalis will now come from late season stars, including eupatorium and Aster divaricatus.
“September’s my favourite month,” she said. “I think one thing that’s really special is September light and the shadows you get. I think in the early morning those gardens are just going to absolutely come to life.”
The event included a tour of the nursery and the behind-the-scenes work that goes into producing the plants. It’s a huge operation with vast propagation areas and mechanised potting.
Naturally, the trip ended at the sales area and a few plants followed me home.
The exhibit is open at Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants throughout May. Timed slots are free but donations will go to Hardy’s local children’s charity, Naomi House & Jacksplace. More information is available on the website.
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Really nice piece with great pics. Marilyn, Roses UK
Thanks 🙂