Stella Exley of Hare Spring Cottage Plants is a new regular columnist who will be sharing her extensive knowledge and experiences of plants.

Stella is the founder and owner of Hare Spring Cottage Plants, an independent hardy plant nursery in Ford, near Kingsbridge. She is a multi RHS Gold Medal winner, including the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show, and is the proud owner of 3 National Plant Collections – Camassia, Sidalcea & Uvularia as well as an RHS Master Grower.

A lush green valley deep in the South Hams is where we relocated our independent hardy plant nursery and home from North Yorkshire almost 4 years ago.

Having fallen in love with our cottage over a period of more than 20 years while driving past to our favourite beaches with our young family, it still feels surreal that we can now call it our home.

Growing conditions do not, surprisingly, vary hugely from our Yorkshire days, the main differences are much more rain in Devon, which we are grateful for, especially our Camassia, and a distinct lack of snow and ice – which we do not miss!

As an exhibitor at all the major horticultural events throughout the UK in our first Devonian growing season we had to adjust quickly to the fact that plants naturally reach peak perfection around 2 weeks earlier than in Yorkshire, which thankfully did not phase us as we grow an extensive range of hardy perennials. Instead, we find that some plants we would usually have taken to RHS Chelsea Flower Show now have their starring roles at RHS Malvern Spring Flower Show, a couple of weeks earlier in the shows calendar. All good fun in the planning stage of our exhibits!

It’s now late June and writing these first words for the Gazette we have already attended 13 horticultural events, including the aforementioned RHS Malvern and Chelsea Flower Shows, delivered 20+ horticultural-themed talks to groups and societies and hosted 2 of our 3 annual Nursery Open Weekends.

It is perfect timing to share one of the plants we most cherish – Sidalcea – one of our National Collections.

Sidalcea are elegant hardy herbaceous perennial beauties that start to unfurl their graceful flower buds at this time of year and with a little regular deadheading they can still be flowering well into autumn – in fact it was early December 2025 when the final flowers faded away in the herbaceous borders in our walled garden.

Available in a range of pink hues and a clear white species, they make a lovely cut flower and are a magnet for bees and butterflies. They sway gently in a breeze and we have never found they require staking. They have an unusual two-tier foliage system and have a shrub-like appearance when in full flight, preferring a sunny or dappled light site and moist well-drained soil – but

beware they do not like to have their feet sat in too much wet over winter! A perfect cottage garden plant for mixed borders.

Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ is one of our favourite combination plants for Sidalcea, together with Penstemon and Erigeron ‘Lavender Lady’.

Join me next time for more musings on nursery life and seasonal hardy perennials.

Happy Gardening!