Carolyn Hardy
Eminent gardener who nurtured and exhibited rare shrubs and trees at Sandling Park
CAROLYN HARDY, who has died aged 86, was a grande dame of British horticulture who held leading positions in the country’s two major gardening charities as chairman of the National Gardens Scheme and vicechairman of the Royal Horticultural Society.
The combination of a military family background, a rigorous horticultural training, limitless energy and marrying into a family who owned one of the most admired gardens in the country together equipped her to make a substantial impact.
Her contribution was recognised by her appointment as OBE in 1998 and within the world of horticulture by the award of the Victoria Medal of Honour from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1989. Carolyn Hardy and her husband Alan were one of only two married couples to have both received the award since its foundation in 1901.
Carolyn Evanson was born at Richmond, Yorkshire, on June 16 1930, the daughter of Major-General Arthur Evanson who had been awarded the MC and mentioned in despatches for his services in the First World War.
She spent the years of the Second World War as a schoolgirl, showing an enthusiasm for fishing which would remain a passion throughout her life. A 1944 certificate survives from her school, Bayfield Hall, recording: “Miss Carolyn Evanson: One Pike 9lbs; One Pike 4lbs 8oz”.
In 1949 she enrolled to take a degree in horticulture at Wye College in Kent, where she was a contemporary of Christopher Lloyd, who went on to create the Arts and Crafts garden at Great Dixter. Leaving Wye in 1952, the following year Carolyn married Alan Hardy, whose family owned Sandling Park near Hythe, where successive generations had created a garden filled with rare trees and shrubs. Their handsome Georgian house had been destroyed by a German bomb in the Second World War, after which the family built a more modest home which in turn was replaced by an impressive neo-Georgian one in 1999.
Together Carolyn and Alan Hardy developed the garden at the same time as embarking on careers in the world of horticulture, especially at the RHS where they regularly exhibited plants from Sandling. Carolyn served as a member of the RHS’s governing council from 1985 to 1997, during which time she held the position of vice-chairman for 10 years. She was an influential member of many RHS committees.
It was with the National Gardens Scheme that Carolyn Hardy arguably made her most significant contribution to British gardens, during her involvement which spanned the 1970s and 1980s. Having become the charity’s county organiser in Kent in 1971, the following year she became a member of the governing council on which she served until 1986 – as chairman from 1979 to 1986. She stood down as Kent county organiser in 1979.
The scheme had been founded in 1927 by the Queen’s Nursing Institute to raise funds for district nurses. By the mid-1970s it had grown to such a size that it needed to be set up as an independent charity. Carolyn Hardy led it through the process of establishing independent status as the National Gardens Scheme Charitable Trust in 1980.
Her leadership also saw a rapid expansion in the number of gardens opening. District nurses were the major beneficiaries but after hearing a report about Macmillan nurses on
Woman’s Hour, in 1985 Carolyn Hardy persuaded her colleagues to adopt Macmillan as an annual beneficiary – laying the foundation for the inclusion of other nursing charities, such as Marie Curie.
At both the National Gardens Scheme and the RHS, Carolyn Hardy continuously inspired her colleagues, encouraging all with her infectious enthusiasm. She was a legendary writer of thank-you letters. One man who opened his garden in Kent for many years kept all her letters in a large file. Late in life he told her that whenever he felt depressed about his garden he took out the file and just reading a few of her letters immediately made him feel better.
The Great Storm of 1987 wreaked havoc in gardens throughout southern England, not least in Kent. Carolyn Hardy worked tirelessly to support and help owners who had suffered damage. Her efforts on their behalf were particularly admirable because the garden of Sandling Park was one of the worst affected in the country, with extensive devastation including the destruction of many great rarities. Together with her husband Carolyn carried out a heroic, long-term programme of clearance and replanting over many years.
For the last decade of her life Carolyn Hardy suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, during which time she was cared for by her younger daughter Jane. Her husband Alan and her older daughter Sarah both predeceased her. Carolyn Hardy, born June 16 1930, died September 23 2016