Harrogate has been in full bloom this week following the Harrogate Floral Summer of Celebration, coordinated by Harrogate BID.

Nine innovative floral displays have been installed to represent the town’s international links, including its twinning with Luchon in France, Barrie in Canada and New Zealand in Wellington.

They displays follow the BID’s success at Yorkshire in Bloom 2022. Harrogate won overall winner in the Yorkshire Rose Town/City Centre BID category and was a finalist in this year’s RHS Britain in Bloom UK Finals.

It is in partnership with Helen James Flowers — who won a gold medal in the Floristry Awards at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023.

The summery showcase will be on display until Friday, August 4.

Take a look at our gallery below in case you missed it.

Pic: Harrogate BID Facebook page

Pic: Harrogate BID Facebook page

Pic: Harrogate BID Facebook page

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A Harrogate florist has won gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London.

Helen James Flowers was one of three gold medallists in the floristry and floral design awards category.

The florist, which has a shop on Station Parade, was selected for its lamppost design ‘On the verge’, which was inspired by recent planting projects on areas of wasteland.

Helen Pannitt, of Helen James Flowers, with her prize-winning blooms.

It shows how mini wildlife havens can be created to counteract the impact of human life on the environment.

The display contains hundreds of water filled test tubes attached to a hand made trellis, and the base materials were arranged on metal pin-holders — a process that took many hours.

The result was a colourful and seasonal display incorporating flowers such as eremurus, dahlias and ranunculus.

Helen James Flowers’ shop is closed until May 30 due to the team being at Chelsea.

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A stunning golden cloak, crown, orb and sceptre fashioned out of flowers is one of the star attractions at this year’s Harrogate Flower Show.

Today’s first day of the show saw around 15,000 enthusiastic visitors. This year’s theme was the coronation of King Charles III.

The show, which is organised by the North of England Horticultural Society, is the first big gardening event on this year’s UK calendar. More than 50,000 people are expected over the four days.

Nick Smith , show director, told the Stray Ferret:

“We’re so pleased to see the amount of quality horticultural we’re seeing here today. After such a miserable winter, it’s just fantastic to see everybody come here and celebrating spring.

“Some might think the principle of floral art is quite old fashioned, but flower arrangers have created fantastic things – to see the range and quality in the Floral Pavilion is just amazing.”

The royal cloak, crown, orb and sceptre were designed and created by Harrogate florist, Helen James – who is no stranger to winning awards for floral artistry.

This display however, was not made to be judged but to promote the show and has done its job — images of her work graced the front pages of the national press this morning, much to the delight of show organisers.

A close up of the cloak’s beautiful floral fabric

Helen James has created promotional displays for the show for the past eight years but she said this one in particular seemed to have captured people’s attention:

“We’ve started off with a base cloak of fabric and then overlaid it with organza to create a luxurious, padded look and then applied the floral material onto that. The flowers were either stitched on or we used special glue.

“The colour inspiration came from something regal but it’s also fitting for springtime. The flowers are orchids, anthuriums, craspedia, kangaroo paws and mix of ferns and foliage, some have been coloured to fit the colour scheme.”

The work took Helen and her team four days to create, then the cloak was gently draped over a table, put in the back of a van and taken to the Great Yorkshire Showground.

Weetons has been declared the overall winner of the Harrogate Christmas Window Dressing competition 2022.

Store manager Jess Upson and Vicky Davis designed and produced the award-winning display at the food hall on West Park.

A total of 26 shops entered the competition, which was organised by Harrogate Business Improvement District and the Rotary Club of Harrogate.

Weetons won the overall category as well as the prize in the large shops category. West Park Hotel, Bettys and Mama Doreen’s Emporium were highly commended in the large shops category.

Helen James Flowers on Station Parade won the medium shops category, with The Yorkshire Soap Company highly recommended.

In the small shops category, Harrogate International Festivals came out on top. Sophie Likes, Foxy Vintage and interiors, Susie Watson Designs and Bijouled earned highly recommended accolades.

The winners were announced at the West Park Hotel on Tuesday. Harrogate borough mayor Cllr Victoria Oldham handed out certificates.

Helen James Flowers won the Christmas window shop for medium retailers

Harrogate International Festivals won the Christmas window shop for small retailers

Shops across Harrogate’s town centre are once again set to dazzle shoppers as they take part in this year’s Christmas Shop Window competition.

Harrogate Business Improvement District has partnered with the Rotary Club of Harrogate to organise and judge the annual festive contest.

It aims to promote town centre shops and push the ‘shop local’ message in the run-up to Christmas.

Businesses have until 8am on November 30 to dress up the windows. Shorlisting will take place on December 1 and the winner will be found on December 2.

The judges will be looking for three elements: illumination, innovation and the sprit of Christmas.

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The contest will be restricted to 50 businesses within the BID’s quarters of Kings, Montpellier, Victoria and West Park.

As in previous years there are three separate categories for large, medium and small retailers.

The overall winner will take home a special certificate and a bouquet of flowers.

Harrogate BID chair Sara Ferguson said:

“Last year, despite the restrictions that covid placed on retailers, Harrogate town centre looked fantastic thanks to our Christmas lights and the efforts of not just shops, but hotels, bars, cafes, restaurants and businesses across the whole town. I suspect that this year, town will look even more festive.”

Competition organiser and Rotary Club of Harrogate member, Graham Saunders, added:

“We are pleased that the competition is back to normal. We look forward to judging the shops and sharing in the awards ceremony.”

Which shops last year?

Mama Doreen’s Emporium was the winner in the large shops category, Helen James Flowers won the medium shops category, and Boho Chic, on West Parade, was the winner in the small shops category.

Helen James Flowers took the overall top spot.