Our Beginnings 

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.  

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.

The Right Plant for the Right Place

Our aim is for you to go home happy with the right plant for a particular spot in your garden. To make it easier for you to look at and select from our plants, they are all displayed on raised benches. Colourful displays are also created around the Sales Shed to inspire and showcase combinations of plants that look stunning at that particular time in the year. New for this year is our demonstration area, where we can lay out your plants as if in your garden.  It makes choosing plants so much easier and a lot of fun.

Plants in our sales area are displayed in the different sections below, to help you find and put together your own plant combinations: 

• Colour benches reflecting all the main floral colours, loaded with examples of all our currently looking good blooms

• Foliage tables for both sunny and shady conditions 

• Shade loving plants, separated into spring, summer and autumn

• Sun loving plants, again grouped into spring, summer and autumn

• Moisture loving plants, which thrive in damp or boggy conditions

• Specialist tables displaying groups of plants such as alpines and herbs 

• Specific plant genus tables for Paeonie, Geranium and Penstemon

• Shrubs which we particularly like and know will thrive in a garden 

If you know your botancial plant names, we also have an A-Z plant list available on request, which will help guide you to their location quickly. If you cannot find the plant that you are looking for, please do not hesitate to ask a member of staff, who will check our stock areas, or let you know when the plant will be available. If you are travelling from afar, please email or phone before your visit, to check that we have the plant that you are seeking in stock.