Harrogate Spring Flower Show - a great Northern event

Sandy Felton discovers some new features and enjoys old favourites at Harrogate.

The Harrogate Spring Flower Show had all of the old favourites to attract gardeners this year but in addition there were quite a few new surprises. In particular, the innovative College Garden Design Area - ‘Back Gardens’ - sponsored by Bradstone, proved to be a big success.

Seven colleges rose to the challenge of coping with a brief allocated to them covering different family profiles and using a certain Bradstone paving, and the results were not disappointing. Bishop Burton College won the category with a Premier Award.

To encourage more adventurous displays the North of England Horticultural Society (NEHS) introduced a new judging category with the theme being ‘Yorkshire’. The challenge was accepted by 17 nurseries with First Prize being awarded to Matthewman Sweetpeas. David Matthewman comes from Pontefract, which just happens to be the home of liquorice – so what better way to celebrate ‘Yorkshire” than an exhibit celebrating liquorice, which also happens to go very well with sweet peas!

This new category certainly made for entertaining exhibits and introduced a different dimension to the standard way of exhibiting on stands. Some very imaginative presentations and well done to everyone who accepted this particular challenge.

Bishop Burton's winning design

The Best in Show award went to H.W.Hyde & Son, from Reading, for their exhibit of lilies and tulips. The standard, as always, was very high but walking around the various exhibits my eye caught a wonderful display of herbaceous perennials on the Hardy’s Cottage Garden stand (Premier) and a fantastic display by Cath’s Garden Plants, Kendal, (Premier) of shrubs, perennials, ferns and bulbs. Cath had brought along a Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’, a striking dark shrub which created considerable interest in our party.

Brian and Pearl Sulman can always be counted on for a great display of Pelargoniums, and their exhibit at the Spring show was no exception earning them a justly deserved Premier award. (left Cottenham Cheer 'angel')

I also enjoyed the Topiary by Design (Gold) exhibit which featured an array of Box and ligustrum topiary and lavender. The Clematis on the Taylors Clematis Nursery stand earned them a Premier award for a vibrant and bold stand and I spent more than a minute or two perusing the array of Alpines and woodland plants on the Slack Top Nurseries stand, also awarded Premier.

Another new innovation for 2008 is the Euroskills category and over in a corner of the show we found teams of landscapers competing for a place in the 2008 Euroskills competition to be held in Rotterdam in September.

Two teams of landscape construction students from Derby and Reaseheath Colleges took part in the event. Watching the gardens take shape during the show was great fun and a tribute to those colleges all over the UK who offer courses in landscape construction and ensure that our landscapers are properly trained.

Cheshire-based rose grower Keith Jones launched a new variety of rose called ‘Harrogate’ at the show and the crowds certainly made use of the many Flower Halls and Marquees to enjoy Arts & Crafts, Foods and Made in Yorkshire products as well as the usual stunning array of floral artistry.

The Autumn Flower Show runs from the 12th to the 14th September 2008 - log onto www.flowershow.org.uk for details.