SPRING HAS SPRUNG AS DAFFODILS AND TULIPS SET TO BLOOM AT HARROGATE FLOWER SHOW

Peak season has arrived for bulb growers as they hone and harvest their crops ready for the Harrogate Spring Flower Show.

Magnificent displays of daffodils and tulips will dazzle at the show as gardeners seek inspiration for planting bulbs ready to bloom next year.

Organised by the North of England Horticultural Society (NEHS), the Spring Flower Show takes place at the Great Yorkshire Events Centre, 24-27 April 2025 and attracts more than 40,000 visitors every year.

Lincolnshire based Bulbs.co.uk has been exhibiting daffodils at the show for over 20 years and has won many Premier Gold and Best In Show awards. Up to 40 varieties of narcissi will be on display this year.

Charlotte Daubney, Direct Sales Manager, said: “The Spring Flower Show is very much a gardeners’ show. Visitors love to be inspired, see new varieties on offer and place their orders ready for delivery and planting in the autumn.

“For us the show is a celebration of spring when everyone’s gardens are coming back to life and is perfectly timed with the awakening of daffodils and other spring flowering bulbs.”

Two weeks before the show, the team at Bulbs.co.uk will start cropping only the highest quality flowers to display, putting them into cold storage until the big day. “Being specialist growers, with over 300 varieties within our collection, it is a very labour intensive process, treating the bulbs and flowers with the utmost care. The daffodils are a month or so behind last year’s flowering, so this should aid an interesting and diverse display!” said Charlotte. “As soon as the show finishes, we will start planning for 2026 and how we can make it even better.”

Award-winning Brighter Blooms will also be exhibiting at Harrogate Spring Flower Show. The Preston based company specialises in tulips and has been exhibiting at the show for 14 years.

Founder Matthew Smith launched Brighter Blooms in 2010 and he and his wife Grete are the authors of A Gardener’s Guide to Tulips.

He said: “Tulips are very hardy; they need cold weather to root and flower. This year has been alright growing wise and now our tulips are beginning to leaf up as we prepare for Harrogate. It’s good to have an independent northern show.”

Brighter Blooms stages an annual Tulip Weekend in April when up to 70 varieties are on display in full flower. The company also grows varieties of Calla lilies and is a supplier of summer flowering bulbs.

Dozens of the UK’s best growers, plant nurseries and societies come together in a celebration of horticulture at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show.

Alongside the spectacular Floral Hall, visitors can also take inspiration from the event’s Show Gardens and Creative Borders and the biggest exhibition of creative floral art in the UK.

There will also be a host of talks and demonstrations by expert speakers and creators across four exciting live stages.

Nick Smith, director of Harrogate Flower Shows, said: “With the arrival of March, spring has sprung and with it lots of work for our bulb specialists in the run up to the show at the end of April. The varieties of daffodils and tulips on display are always breath-taking and provide our visiting gardeners with a real idea of what can be achieved with a little planning ahead.”

The Harrogate Spring Flower Show is one of two flower shows hosted annually by the NEHS, a charity committed to promoting and supporting horticulture in the north of England.

About the NEHS

Established in 1911, the North of England Horticultural Society (NEHS) is a charity dedicated to promoting horticulture in the north of England.

The society's Spring show was first staged in 1920 and provided northern growers with their own platform, independent of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). The Autumn Flower Show was launched in the 1970s as the 'Great Autumn Flower Show’. Both shows have since become pivotal events in the national horticultural calendar with the Spring event heralding the start of the gardening season and the Autumn show celebrating the season's successes.