I always enjoy a trip to the Harrogate Showground for the Harrogate Spring Flower Festival, which runs from today Thursday 24^th April till Sunday 27^th April. It is the first major event in the national gardening calendar, which welcomes the new growing season with a spectacular celebration of the very best in horticulture. This prestigious event hosts dozens of specialist plant nurseries and societies with some beautiful show garden features, live talks and demonstrations, great garden shopping, and the biggest exhibition by florists and flower arrangers in the country.

Both the Spring and Autumn shows attract a combined audience of up to 70,000 visitors each year. We have learned over the years when booking our tickets, to get there early i.e. 9.30am to avoid the heaviest of traffic and by booking the VIP parking saves you a great deal of leg work, otherwise you can have quite an uneven walk from the car to the actual showground.

It was a dry, bright, and sunny morning when we arrived, with a light westerly breeze, the fine weather stayed like that for the remainder of the day which made for a very pleasant visit. Our first stop once we arrived was to head for the café in the Grand Floral Hall just off the main avenue, for a light breakfast bap and welcome cup of tea. Suitably refreshed we headed into the Main Hall, I could have stopped in here all day to admire the selection of plants and the outstanding displays of flowers, from acers to zinnias, the variety of plants and displays was inspirational. The plantsmen and women were most helpful and willingly offered advice when purchasing their products on the best place to plant them, what soil type they prefer, when to water etc.  There were also some interesting talks by leading plantsmen and women which drew large audiences.

Many plant societies had some beautiful displays on show in the hall, especially Bonsai, Fuchsias and Chrysanthemums, as well as ferns and every type of grass you could think of. I am not a big lover of Cacti plants but some of these displays and the different types of cacti were incredible, their shape, form, and height, some were in flower, others looked to be covered in spider’s webs whilst others had massive thorns, others transported me back to the wild west and the old cowboy films such were there size. 

Such is the temptation whilst at the show to buy some of the plants that we now carry a fold away trolly to put all our purchases in, that way we do not have to bother with the ‘plant creche’. After a couple of hours browsing and purchasing, and a full trolley! we ventured outside for a walk along the main avenue. Opposite the main floral hall was a continuous line of white gazeboes selling everything you could want for your garden, from hosepipes and their accessories to garden twine and secateurs and every type of spade and gardening implement you could imagine. Then there where the hot tubs, green houses and fancy globe type gazeboes, the selection and choice was unending as was their price. Many of the smaller stalls were selling garden ornaments and appliances, other stalls were selling bulbs of every shape and size.

Over in the Floral Art Pavilion some of the floral displays were works of art, how anyone has the imagination to transform flowers into such beautiful arrangements is beyond me but some of the arrangements were amazing. On leaving the Floral Pavilion we headed through the Home & Gift pavilion admiring all the artisans selling their gifts and crafts, all made in Yorkshire. After all the browsing we were grateful for a sit down and cup of tea for a few moments whilst we listened to a lady’s choir singing in the Band Stand. After our refreshment break, we had a look around some of the larger stalls selling outdoor clothing before heading over to the small selection of Show Gardens which offered a rich source of inspiration to the visitor, they gathered larger crowds all keen to have a look and take a photograph. By now it was mid-afternoon and as we had had a good look round, we headed over to the car and the journey home.

The Autumn Flower Show will take place on the 19^th-21^st September 2025 at Newby Hall, Ripon.