PROUD grandad Stan Crabtree thought his baby granddaughter was as pretty as a flower - so he named one after her.

Rachel Patricia Crabtree is a bouncing 18 month-old baby, but when she was born she weighed just 2lbs.

Just after her birth on October 31, 1994, Stan, 53, discovered a brand new type of heather growing in one of the seed trays at the Eversley Nursery on Granville Road, Hesketh Bank, which he has run for five years.

Stan said: "We waited a while to see how the heather would turn out. It started out as maroon and now has peach coloured spring foliage - every bit as beautiful as our Rachel Patricia.

"She is my son Alan's first child as well as my first granddaughter - what other reason did I need?"

He will launch Rachel Patricia at this year's Gardeners' World Live at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on June 12. (R/8036)

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