A FAMILY run plant nursery business based near York was the supplier to three Gold medal winning show gardens at Harrogate Flower Show last week.

Johnsons of Whixley saw the top honours of Premier Gold go to ‘Tea for Two’ by the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI), which featured around £5,000 worth of planting donated the firm.

As many as 20 varieties of Johnsons’ plants, including trees, hardy shrubs, ferns and grasses, were on display in the garden, which explored the origins of the afternoon ‘pick me up’, comparing traditions of English high tea with the Japanese tea ceremony.

The designers of Gold-medal winning gardens ‘George’s Garden’ and ‘A Grand Day Out’ also selected planting from Johnsons of Whixley’s Xpress Cash and Carry in Whixley ahead of the show.

George’s Garden, created by Lorna Batchelor of Yorkshire Garden Designs, featured sensory planting from Johnsons and was inspired by Lorna’s son George.

The aim of the garden was to encourage outdoor enjoyments in a safe environment and is now being reconstructed at the Nidderdale Children’s Resource Centre in Harrogate.

Ms Batchelor said: "This was an exciting and very personal project as my son George receives respite care at Nidderdale.

"I selected plants from Johnsons to stimulate the senses including lavender and herbs for smell, blueberry bushes for taste, stachys and saxifraga for contrasting textured foliage, colourful foliage such as hebes and brachyglottis for sight and bamboo and phormiums to create movement and sound.

"Johnsons has a good range of quality stock available and I look forward to using many more of their plants in future projects."

A Grand Day Out, designed by Horticap Limited, was inspired by the famous cartoon characters Wallace and Gromit and featured a Yorkshire countryside picnic scene. The planting from Johnsons included native hedging and trees, plus wild flowers and grasses to capture the region’s famous countryside.

Askham Bryan College also picked plants to finish off their Silver-medal winning Viking garden designed by horticulture, arboriculture and floristry students from the college.

Johnsons of Whixley’s nursery in the Vale of York spans 150 acres. The firm is one of the longest established and largest commercial nursery businesses in Europe.