‘Every now and again you get something that makes you go, gosh!’

Plant breeders are a diverse bunch, from those tinkering in home gardens to biologists creating GM crops, but they’re all essentially doing a similar thing: toying with genetics to produce different colours and shapes, disease resistance, higher yields, supermarket-trolley suitability, or some other desirable characteristic.

Rosy Hardy represents a back-to-basics style of plant breeder. From humble beginnings selling plants at car-boot sales, she now runs her own nursery, Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants in Hampshire, and has won 24 gold medals at Chelsea. The plantswoman and her nursery team have been breeding plants since 1998, and she is renowned for growing and creating beautiful and resilient cottage garden plants. She tells us how she uses a good eye, lots of patience and a little bit of luck