This plant won’t be going to Chelsea

Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants in Hampshire was checking the plants in one of her tunnels yesterday. These are the plants that she’s been carefully nurturing for months for the Chelsea Flower Show in a couple of weeks time.

She was trying to decide if she should keep her prize Rheum for her own display in the Great Pavilion or lend it to Show sponsors Marshalls for their Show Garden - “The Marshalls Garden That Kids Really Want!”.  It’s such a perfect specimen that designer Ian Dexter was desperate to have it for Marshalls.

But as soon as Rosy discovered a Mother blackbird sitting on half a dozen eggs the decision was made. The plant stays put at the nursery in Hampshire!

(Not the greatest picture, I know. Just a quick snap so as not to disturb mother blackbird for too long. For US readers - a blackbird is like a robin without the red chest. More on robins next time.)

Fortunately, stocks of the two new plants Hardy's are introducing at Chelsea are unencumbered by surprise wildlife. And both look good. Campanula carpatica ‘Jenny’ has large, cup-shaped white flowers with a distinct blue central eye while the tall Gaura lindheimeri ‘Rosyjane’ has white flowers with a bright pink edge to each petal. Lovely.

Comments

[emma t]

This is a slightly trivial comment, but I was really pleased to find out that RosyJane is called after Rosy Hardy. I feel like I've got that little bit more incentive to look after the plant now. (Silly I know)

[Graham Rice]

No, Emma, I know what you mean. I always worry that plants in the garden that are named after friends, or people I respect, are going to unaccountably fade away - or, worse, that I'm going to do something to them that sends them into a steep decline and it will be MY FAULT that they die! At the moment, I'm hoping that the last of the 'Constance Finnis' poppy seed that Valerie Finnis gave me will come up when I sow it.