A WEST Devon nursery owner had the chance to chat hostas with Prince Charles at Chelsea Flower Show this week. Tim Penrose from Bowden Hostas at Sticklepath was delighted to meet Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall at the show on Monday night, but his week got even better the next day when the nursery gained a coveted RHS gold medal. Tim said he was introduced to the Royal couple at the charity gala at the show: ?I talked to the Prince about hostas. He has plenty of hostas at Highgrove and we have supplied a good number of them. I talked to him for a good three minutes ? it was lovely to have met him,? he said. The gold medal in the floral marquee at Chelsea completes a hat-trick of show golds, as the Sticklepath nursery also won at Tatton at the end of last year and at Malvern last week. The nursery won the only gold medal for a hostas stand at the show, to add to the gold they picked up at Chelsea last year. Tim and wife Ruth worked several days to create their eye catching stand. ?It was the most elaborate display we have ever done,? he said. The circular stand, which was 21 foot in diameter, included a long canal all the way through the middle, with a silver ball seemingly floating on the water surface. The water was surrounded by around 150 hostas, including a number of popular new varieties. Tim said everyone connected with the nursery was delighted to win the medal, and he said the judges had made some ?super comments? about the display. He said the show had been ?buzzing? this year, with lots of plant orders being taken. Tim also came face to face with a six-and-a-half foot slug ? but it was all part of the launch to promote his book called ?Slugbusters ? Something strange in your hosta bed? Who?re you going to call? Slugbusters!? Tim said he had chased the slug around Chelsea as a publicity stunt to promote the book, which had garnered great interest and led to numerous TV and radio interviews. Tim said the stunt seems to have worked well, with hundreds of copies of the book being sold from the stall. l The gardens at Cleave House, Sticklepath are open for the national garden scheme charity on Saturday, June 3 and Sunday, June 4, from 10.30am to 5pm.