A GARDENING champion from Whitchurch has maintained her winning run at a famous flower show by picking up her 21st gold medal.

Rosy Hardy’s incredible success at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show saw her collect not only a gold medal for her hardy perennials, in the Great Pavilion Awards, but also a silver gilt for her very first show garden.

The 54-year-old, who owns Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, in Freefolk Priors, near Whitchurch created The Brewin Dolphin Garden –- Forever Freefolk, inspired by the Hampshire countryside.

It invites visitors to consider the fragility of and beautiful chalk streams –- a vital resource threatened by pollution and climate change.

Just 200 chalk streams exist in the world, with the majority in the south of England.

The garden explores the uniqueness of these streams by inviting visitors to take a walk through a dry chalk stream bed towards its source.

Basingstoke Gazette:

Planting echoes the changing landscape from dried river bed to grassland towards the lush areas at the source.

Speaking to The Gazette after receiving her awards, Rosy said: “I’m absolutely thrilled. It’s a brilliant feeling.”

Rosy is the only entrant to grow all her own plants to use in a show garden, and has been at the venue since May 4 setting up her stunning creations.

She said: “It’s a long process. There’s a lot of planning to get it all correct.”

Rosy has received plenty of positive feedback from visitors walking through her show garden, and added: “It’s been wonderful. People thoroughly enjoy the idea of it and want to know how they can help and what they should be doing to help save chalk streams.”

She praised her team at Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants for all their hard work in helping her prepare for this year’s show, adding: “All the team at home have been fantastic.”

Rosy will be at the flower show until Saturday, when the plants will be sold off to raise money for Naomi House Hospice, in Sutton Scotney.