A GERANIUM named as the 'Plant of the Centenary' at the 100th Chelsea Flower Show was bred by a former Kilve man.

The late Donald Waterer discovered Geranium Rozanne - which he named after his wife - growing at the bottom of his garden in 1989.

The unusual looking seedling had much larger leaves than its neighbours, its flowers were twice as large and it bloomed from June to November, surviving hard frosts.

Mr Waterer, a retired plantsman, cultivated the seedling on his window sill and some years later took it to Blooms of Bressingham, who identified it as a new variety.

The plant, with its distinctive violet-blue flowers streaked with red, made its debut at the Royal Horticultural Society's prestigious Chelsea event in 2000.

And on the final day of the show's 100th anniversary last Saturday it beat off competition from nine other budding plants of the century, representing the ten decades of the show, to take the top accolade.

More than 7,000 people voted for it but it only narrowly snatched victory from its closest rival Lupinus Russell hybrids.

The winning bloom is thought to be a hybrid that occurred naturally in the Waterers' garden but is now one of the best known hardy geranium cultivars.

Henry Grub, the 15-year-old amateur gardener from West Sussex chosen to represent Geranium Rozanne (Gerwat) said: "It is a very pretty plant, it is low maintenance, will come back year after year and makes a wonderful impact in the garden."

Colin Crosbie, curator at the RHS's Wisley garden, said good plants would remain popular.

"The result confirms the lasting impact that those plants deemed worthy of being launched at Chelsea have had on the gardening world," he said.