Rosy is the Owner of Hardy ’s Cottage Garden Plants , a much - celebrated nursery that has acquire a stupefying twenty - four ( ! ) Gold Medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and two Tudor Roses at Hampton Court .
She was also madean Honorary Vice President of the RHS in 2020 in recognition of her contribution and allegiance to gardening .
I spoke with Rosy about her life history , her most memorable moments and what ’s next for Hardy ’s nursery .
Can You Explain How You First Got Into Gardening?
“ I ’ve always like the outdoors , ” read Rosy . “ Whenever I was out anywhere I ’d always search at the wild flower , the trees and the hedgerows and was really concerned in them , so that got me into like plants .
“ When I was in schooltime , I was going to go into agriculture but was told it was n’t potential because I did n’t occur from that background . I was promote towards horticulture alternatively .
“ I roll in the hay biology , so horticulture was a sensible theme to go down . I deal an O - Level in Horticulture and I did my RHS oecumenical test at the same metre that I take this – it lead from there . ”
From That, What Led You To A Career In Horticulture?
“ I had two option . I was looking at estate management and that was n’t going to shape , so I looked at horticulture and whether I wanted to work in parks , botanical gardens or commercial horticulture .
“ I like the mind of the latter and actually specify in veg growing once I left college . It is n’t that much of a variety from what I do now because whatever you grow , you have to know about soil and what the specific flora pauperism .
“ I worked in vegetable farms for a while during and after college . After dispose , I was just doing timbre control , which was n’t for me , so I began do work at a farm workshop and end up doing what I do now . ”
Can You Tell Me About Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants & What You Do There?
“ We set out by doing railway car iron heel gross revenue where we sold plants across the weekend at various fairs , ” she shares .
“ In the week , we did some contracted landscape gardening and in the evenings , we would do the development . We started off growing all type of industrial plant , but it was herbaceous plants that the great unwashed seemed to want the most .
“ We then begin doing bloom shows and stopped doing the car bang fairs , which is how we got decent started .
“ We began in the back garden and then moved a duet of meter before stop up where we are now . We ’ve been here for 28 old age now . It has changed over time , but that ’s just normal for anything over that amount of time ! ”
What Moments Stand Out To You From Your Career?
“ I ’ve been lucky with the career I ’ve had , ” blushful muses . “ We ’ve got 24 gold medals from Chelsea and 2 Tudor Rose awards from Hampton Court .
“ Also , becoming an Honorary Vice President of the RHS was amazing as it showed that people appreciate what we ’ve done over the years .
“ Horticulture has impart me a prospect to go abroad too . I ’ve been to Australia twice and done displays and public lecture over there . I ’ve latterly been to Kenya to do some judgement over there , which was lovely . ”
What’s Next For You?
“ At the minute we are just carrying on with what we are doing at the glasshouse . We will be doing the RHS Malvern Autumn Show , which is always fun .
“ We wind up doing talk here in October , so over wintertime we do a lot of preparations for the next year . ”
What Advice Would You Give To Aspiring Gardeners?
“ You ’ve got to bask and squeeze it , ” she shares .
“ Any garden can be scare off to start out with , but the key things are always calculate at your soil , interpret your land site and delight the process of creating something which is yours .
“ Do n’t make a garden that is too difficult to maintain , otherwise you wo n’t ever get time to sit down and appreciate it ! ”
