Hardys Cottage Garden Plants

Our nursery had a rather modest beginning, with Rosy Hardy and her husband Rob hitting on the idea of growing and selling plants from their own back garden at local car boot sales.  That was back in 1988, when they both had a lot more hair.  Since then, Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants has grown from strength to strength, attracting many loyal customers and winning hundreds of awards.  We are now recognised as one of the UK’s leading independent nurseries for herbaceous perennials. We were awarded RHS Master Grower status in 2021.

Still very much a family-run nursery, we believe we offer an unrivalled selection of 1,200 varieties of herbaceous perennials, from proven garden favourites to the more unusual and noteworthy.  These are all grown outside in peat free compost, at our 13 acre site in the beautiful Hampshire village of Freefolk.  You should come and see our stunning views over the Test Valley.

As dedicated plantaholics, we really enjoy growing an exciting range of high- quality plants that will thrive in your garden, whatever its situation or conditions, and make you smile.

But we do not just grow plants, we also breed and propagate our own varieties, including our well-known range of Gaura  plus launch new introductions from breeders. A particular favourite being GAURA ‘Rosy Shimmers’ and our own home bred Anemone ‘Frilly Knickers’, which following a public vote was awarded RHS plant of the year in 2020.

We have a wide selection of Herbaceous Perennials on our website www.hardysplants.co.uk for Mail Order and Click and Collect.

If that was not enough, Rosy and Rob are kept busy on the road, exhibiting our home-grown plants at numerous flower shows and events throughout the year. Together with the team back at the nursery, they have achieved many awards over the years including an outstanding 24 RHS Chelsea Gold Medals.

Here at the nursery, we hold a variety of events including a very popular series of talks and propagation workshops run by Rosy herself, plus throughout the year exciting guest speakers from the horticultural world join us to speak about their specialist subject too.

We offer “Behind the scenes tours” for enthusiastic plants people and gardening groups throughout the growing season.

Check our website for opening hours/events this year. Please call us before travelling to check plant availability.