Greenery leaves flowers in the shade

Fernatix, the Suffolk-based pair who took the top award in 2007 at the Autumn Show and on another occasion at the Spring Show, said they were delighted to once again walk off with the coveted prize.

“Its absolutely fantastic,” Mr Robinson said. “This is our first show of the year and the way that the weather has been we were thinking we are not going to get a very good display.”

The cold weather, which has put the season back by around a month also caused problems for other growers. This year some tulip classes had no entries.

“As you can see we have a few classes with no entries in and its because we have had no good weather,” Eric Wells of the Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society said yesterday.

A record three top Premier Gold Awards were presented to show garden designers taking part in the show, at the Great Yorkshire Showground, in Harrogate, which runs until Sunday.

Lizzie Tulip Garden Design, from York, British Association of Landscape Industries and Craven College, Skipton, all claimed top honours for their gardens.

Lizzie Tulip, of Lizzie Tulip Garden Design, whose spring garden was inspired by Yorkshire, said: “I am thrilled, absolutely thrilled.”

Among the four Gold Award winners were Leeds-based PWP Landscape Design, with custom joinery by BowCora, Wood Landscapes, from Bradford, Derby College and Craven College, from Skipton, for a second show garden design. The Peter D Sutcliffe Memorial Creative Award went to PWP Landscape Design.

Ian Woolford of PWP, which created a contemporary woodland garden which takes its inspiration from surrounding mature birch woodland, said: “We are over the moon.”