A COUPLE will be celebrating their, and their nursery's pearl anniversaries in style at a world-famous flower show this summer.

In 1988, newly-weds Rosy and Rob Hardy were selling home grown plants at a local car boot sale, but 30 years on, Freefolk-based Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants has gained a reputation as one of the UK’s leading independent plant nurseries, having won 22 Gold Medals at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

As befits the double celebration this year, Hardy’s will be unveiling two new herbaceous perennial plants on their Stand in the Great Pavilion at the show this May.

Rosy Hardy said, “We are delighted to be returning to RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2018 and being able to celebrate the two 30th anniversaries. Those three decades have flown by and in that time we have appeared at more than 300 RHS Shows and introduced over 100 new plants. So, we are delighted to be able to celebrate with the introduction of two more beautiful perennials, which we feel sure gardeners will love to grow.”

The first of the new introductions is Gaillardia ‘Apricot Honey’, which Rosy has been evaluating and propagating for over two years at the nursery.

The second introduction is Polemonium yezoense ‘Kaleidoscope’ which was bred in 2001 at Dunmore Nursery.

Rosy added: "Over the years we have seen our plant displays at Chelsea change a great deal. We used to have small island stands for visitors to walk around, but in recent years, we have created much larger, walk-through displays, so that visitors can be up-close to the wide range of herbaceous perennial plants.

“It doesn’t matter how many times we exhibit at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, there is always the same sense of excitement and anticipation as we grow our plants and then bring them together to create the exhibit. We are really looking forward to celebrating our nursery’s 30th anniversary and our pearl wedding anniversary with all the visitors to Chelsea, but I guess it is gold and not pearl we will be aiming for from the judges.”