YOU thought you knew the difference between a house and a garden? Well, think again.

The Harrogate Spring Flower Show, which opens today, has decided to shake things up a bit. In fact, it has gone all inside-out...

A series of spectacular new rooms have been designed, in which flowers and plants have been brought indoors to take over the living space. Features include living wallpaper, a cascading flower shower, an aromatic bed of herbs and even a ‘vege-table’ (yes, that is exactly what it sounds).

The huge floral installation, created in association with Slingsby - Spirit of Harrogate and built by teams of florists from across the region, has been dubbed The GREENhouse. And it is designed to blur the lines between house and garden, says show director Nick Smith.

“We all love to bring the outside into our homes through house plants, window baskets, flower arrangements and even water features,” he says.

“The GREENhouse blurs the lines between outside and inside, asking the question – what would happen if nature took over the rooms and we had a home that was truly at one with nature?”

Visitors to the show, which runs from today until Sunday at the Great Yorkshire Showground, will be able to explore a series of four different flower rooms to seek answers to that question.

And since no Englishman’s (or woman’s) house is complete without a garden, students from Askham Bryan College have obliged. In keeping with the topsy-turvy theme, however, they were challenged with the task of literally bringing the inside out...

Also new for this year’s show are a series of ‘Secret Sheds’ which aim to give community groups the freedom to try something different.

The Avenue show gardens also have a new feature, called Designed to Last, showcasing design solutions for real gardens with problem growing conditions. Themes for this year’s large-scale gardens range from the Tree of Life to the mills and moors of Yorkshire, including a humorous tribute to some of the county’s most famous characters.

Rated Britain’s top gardening event by Which? Gardening, the show also features stunning displays by nearly 100 of the country’s top plant nurseries, plus Britain’s biggest exhibition of flower arranging and floristry.

Stephen Lewis

The Harrogate Spring Flower Show runs until Sunday.

Tickets are £21 for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, £19.00 for Sunday. Parking is free. Under 16s get in free when accompanied by an adult. Visit www.flowershow.org.uk for more information.