Welcome to Yorkshire is marking its 10th birthday and 10th year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show with a garden which will capture the beauty of the county’s canals and celebrate the drama of Yorkshire’s rich industrial heritage.
It’s being designed by Mark Gregory who worked on Welcome to Yorkshire’s most successful Chelsea garden to date, last year. His 2018 Dales inspired garden scooped a Gold Medal, the People’s Choice Award and the won the prize for Best Construction.
The highlight of the 2019 Welcome to Yorkshire show garden will be an authentically built canal with flowing water and genuine canal lock gates. Mark’s design also includes a towpath and a lock keeper’s lodge with a colourful garden and vegetable patch. This will be the 99th garden he has worked on at the prestigious show.
The design is inspired by Yorkshire’s proud history of industry, manufacturing and innovation but also the county’s stunning natural environment and many green spaces. The canal featured will run next to a perennial meadow, and the planting will celebrate the rich diversity of native flora alongside cultivated varieties.
This atmospheric garden will evoke the very essence of the county, striking a balance between the industrial and the beautiful, demonstrating that a working lock can also be a place of tranquillity and charm. The aim of the garden is to inspire those who see it, to visit Yorkshire and experience the county’s beauty first hand.
Mark Gregory, Garden Designer, said:
“I’m honoured to have been asked to create Welcome to Yorkshire’s 10th garden at RHS Chelsea. My design will try to capture the magic of the narrow canals, a stunning legacy of the Industrial Revolution, which are now a massive part of tourism in Yorkshire after being carefully and lovingly renovated to create a unique eco system and valuable leisure resource.
The garden will have all the drama and excitement of a working canal, with two gates and a bypass sluice system with lots of moving water. It will feature authentic Yorkshire stonework and trees local to the county with a modern style perennial meadow bordering the canal towpath. Chelsea 2018 was all about the detail and my ambition for 2019 is to raise the bar yet again.”
Sir Gary Verity DL, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said:
“Yorkshire has always been a world leader when it comes to innovation and we are hugely proud of our industrial heritage. Combining this with our county’s natural beauty will make a brilliant theme for this year’s RHS Chelsea garden.
“I’m delighted we have Mark Gregory on board as our designer once again for such a special year – as we celebrate 10 years of Welcome to Yorkshire and our 10th garden at the prestigious flower show where we showcase our great county to the world with the aim of enticing visitors to come see everything we have on offer for themselves.”
