AFTER 61 years of unbroken success at the UK's most prestigious flower show, a Hampshire nursery says its winning run is threatened because the weather has been too hot.

Hilliers Nursery in Ampfield has scooped coveted gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show for the past six decades - an achievement that has given the nursery worldwide recognition.

This year though, staff fear that their record-breaking run will come to a wilted end because an unusually warm spring, that included the hottest April on record, is ruining their plants.

The Hilliers exhibit is the biggest at the show, with 12 lorries taking up more than 4,000 plants, and this year is called Planting with Trees'.

Cold storage However the cherry trees which were supposed to be one of the highlights of the exhibition have already had to be ditched after they blossomed too soon.

Other keys parts of the exhibit, including displays of rhododendrons and azaleas, have had to be put in cold storage for the past six-weeks to try to ensure that they keep their flowers.

Roses that usually have to be coaxed into blooming early for the show have also come out in flower too early, as have lilacs and irises, while the lifespan of the nursery's lavender is also causing concern.

Bosses at the nursery also fear that even if the cold storage plants last until the ten-day show starts on May 22, they will then droop and wilt too fast because they have been held in stasis.

Andrew McIndoe, Hillier's designer, said: "The biggest problem is holding things back for long enough.

"We have always put things in cold storage, but never for as long as this year.

"Some of our plants have been in storage now for six-weeks, and we don't know what they will be like when they come out - the colour is at risk.

"When they are taken out they then age much more quickly, so we are hoping it will not be too hot at Chelsea."

He said the difference in flowering times meant that some plants that usually flower in mid-May had instead come out at the start of April. Andrew added: "I have been doing Chelsea for 18 years and the temperature at the show has ranged from five degrees up to 35 degrees, but we have never had weather like this in the weeks and months beforehand."