Mayor joins medal winners to celebrate gardening success

Staff from the council's parks and countryside service together with representatives from sponsor Hesco Bastion Ltd joined Lord Mayor of Leeds, Coun Jim McKenna, for a celebration at Leeds Civic Hall.

The reception also honoured Leeds florists Anastasia Flowers who won gold in the Young Florist of the Year category at the show in May and members of St George's Crypt hostel who worked on the Eden Project garden which earned a silver medal.

The garden also made history for being the first gold medal-winner by a local authority in the outdoor show garden category in the 148-year history of the event. The design, based on a section of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, featured a canal section and two 12ft lock gates as the centrepiece.

Coun McKenna said: "I am delighted to have this opportunity on behalf of the city of Leeds and Yorkshire as a whole to say well done to all our fantastic Chelsea Flower Show teams."

The theme of garden was to celebrate the green linkages which connect the city centre to the countryside in and around Leeds. The use of the canal and lock gates was a reflection of the industrial past of the city.

Meanwhile next year's medal winners may find inspiration at Clumber Park's walled kitchen garden on Saturday when it opens its gates for a National Garden Scheme open day.

The scheme helps to train budding gardeners by donating 250,000 a year to the National Trust's Careership initiative.

Clumber Park's gardener Fiona Alexander will be in the garden between 1pm and 4pm to talk about the scheme.

The following day – Sunday, July 18 – the gardens at Hardwick Hall, near Chesterfield, will also be open from 11am to 5pm as part of the NGS appeal.