Yorkshire’s cycling success to feature at famed flower show

Designers have incorporated the UK’s rarest orchid, the Lady’s Slipper, into the garden, which will feature in the artisan section of the world-famous show between May 21 and 25.

The display is being designed by Alistair W Baldwin Associates, from Bedale in North Yorkshire, and will also feature the sculptures of Hull-born Emma Stothard, who is currently exhibiting at the Prince of Wales’s private residence.

Tourism officials say it will celebrate Yorkshire’s hosting of the Tour’s Le Grand Départ next summer, where the world’s top cyclists will race from Harrogate and through North Yorkshire towards Leeds.

Alistair Baldwin said: “Le Jardin will evoke the beauty of Yorkshire and celebrate both its cycling heritage and its cycling future, with the Grand Départ 2014 firmly at its heart.”

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is marking its 100th anniversary by asking the public to vote for one of ten selected blooms to be show plant of the centenary.

Among the candidates is the Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’, a perennial with mauve flowers, nominated by Michaela Worthington, 37, from Bradford.