A new floral display has been installed in Valley Gardens, Harrogate by the North Yorkshire Council’s local horticultural and parks team, commemorating the anniversaries of the town’s twinning agreements. It depicts the national flags/emblems of Harrogate’s four twinned locations. The information board nearby explains how 2023 represents 70 years of twinning links with Luchon and Wellington, 60 years with Montecatini, and 10 years with Barrie.

It contains an astonishing 3,475 plants – mainly Petunias in a range of colours, but also Begonias. The bed will be in place until the end of September.

The layout is:

French Flag – blue/white/red	Canadian Flag – Maple Leaf in red
New Zealand – Silver Fern emblem on black	Italian Flag – green/white/red

As you can see it comes across really well in photographs! It is really impressive to see, but don’t get too close as it is harder to see the patterns – just like standing close up to an oil painting! The maple leaf in the Canadian Flag, and the silver fern for New Zealand must have been difficult to get right but come across really well!

The spectacular flowerbed design was drawn up with input from Jan Gleaves of HIP and Sue Wood who is North Yorkshire Council’s local Horticultural Development Officer, and it was planted by the Parks and Environmental Services team. Maintaining Harrogate’s reputation as a floral town is central to their work, and requires a huge ongoing effort – not least watering the displays in hot dry weather! For 2023 the town has been named as a finalist in the RHS Britain in Bloom UK Finals.

For those interested in the detail, the planting was:

275 Petunia Mambo Blue

950 Petunia Mambo White

900 Petunia Mambo Red

675 Petunia Sophistica Blackberry

275 Petunia Sophistica Lime Green

225 Begonia Super Cool Red

175 Begonia Super Cool Pink

3,475 TOTAL

Three cheers for the planting team (and the watering team) !