Harrogate Borough Council

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Tatton Flower Show is in for a surprise this year when Harrogate Borough Council's Parks team arrive with a lady dressed only in flowers!  However this is no ordinary lady but a 3D model that will form the centrepiece for the council's entry in the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) National Flowerbed Competition, which is held each year at Tatton in Knutsford, Cheshire.  This unique event, associated with the Britain in Bloom campaign, showcases the talents of local authorities and communities from all over the UK.

 

Deb Wright, Harrogate Borough Council's Parks Development Manager who is heading up the team going to Tatton, said: "Harrogate has a genteel reputation.  It is an attractive spa town that flourished during the Victorian era when people would visit to take the waters and also promenade through the Valley Gardens enjoying the spectacular flowerbeds and manicured lawns.

 

"We wanted to bring this rich history to life again with our design which is why a leisurely stroll around Victorian Harrogate has been chosen as our theme and why we are creating 3D figures of a woman and child all in flowers.  This is only the second time we have shown at Tatton and we are confident that this will encourage even more visitors to come to the Harrogate district to take advantage of our 21^st century award winning parks and gardens."

 

The National Flowerbed Competition will be judged for an RHS medal on Tuesday

19 July.  And on Friday 22 July, Deb Wright has been invited by the RHS to give a seminar at the Show entitled Why Bedding and What Purpose Does It Serve? hopefully as a gold medal winner for Harrogate.

 

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Members of Harrogate Borough Council's Parks team dressed in period costume will present their floral lady at the council's nursery on
Thursday 7 July at 10.30am before she makes her way to Tatton.  The council's nursery is signposted from Harlow Moor Road, Harrogate.

FURTHER INFORMATION: on the council's design is available from Deb Wright, Parks Development Manager on 01423 556704 or Sue Wood, Community Liaison Officer on 01423 556757. 

 

NOTE TO EDITORS: Set in over 24 acres of magnificent parkland, the RHS Tatton Flower Show is one of the country's most prestigious events in the gardening calendar.  The National Flowerbed Competition offers the opportunity for local authorities and communities to put themselves on the map by using their skills and experience to stage a flowerbed reflecting their own identity.  All competitors work with a 6m by 4m bed using a wide range of plant material. The flowerbeds are judged for RHS medals, reflecting the high standard of horticulture demonstrated by this competition.  Harrogate's bed depicts a lady and child (playing with a hoop and stick) promenading through the Valley Gardens in Harrogate with the stream on one side and flowerbed on the other. The bed is made up of bedding plants with the figures planted up in carpet bedding alongside a 3-D black swan.