Welcome to Yorkshire 10th Chelsea garden revealed

Welcome to Yorkshire is marking its 10th birthday and 10th year at RHS Chelsea Flower Show with a garden that will capture the beauty of the county’s canals and celebrate the drama of Yorkshire’s rich heritage.

At the 2018 Chelsea Flower Show, designer Mark Gregory achieved enormous success with his Dales garden, scooping a Gold Medal, the People’s Choice Award and prize for Best Construction. It was one of the most popular at the show and it is no surprise that sponsors Welcome to Yorkshire have asked him back for the 2019 show.

Mark will design an authentic built canal with flowing water and genuine canal lock gates. The design will include a towpath and a lock keeper’s lodge with a colourful garden and vegetable patch. 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. Next to the canal will be a perennial meadow, celebrating the rich diversity of native flora alongside cultivated varieties.

The aim of the garden is to inspire those who see it to visit Yorkshire and experience the county’s beautify first hand and if the 2018 garden is anything to go by it will certainly achieve its aims.

Mark (pictured left) comments that he is honoured to have been asked to create the 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,” he said.

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,” he added.

This will the 99th garden Mark has worked on at the prestigious show and his 31st consecutive year at Chelsea. He has personally designed five show gardens, the last four of which all won Gold Medals. He set up Landform Consultants in April 1988 and started work on his first Chelsea garden two weeks later!

We wish Mark and his team every success in creating and building what sounds like another very special garden.

Photo credits: All images ©Welcome to Yorkshire