“Best in Show” at Ardingly awarded to family-run garden centre

Rather than their usual plant shop, this year the business decided to enter a show garden as well to demonstrate their green-finger abilities. Created by a plant team, led by Lorna Wilkinson from South Downs Nurseries in Hassocks the result clearly appealed to the judges.

Much hard work in the run-up to the Ardingly show resulted in a beautiful show garden with a Mediterranean theme with everything including soil, plants and trees taken to the site from the Hassocks nursery.

Awarding Best in Show, for the best Horticultural trade exhibit, the event’s Chairman of Horticulture, Nigel Ellis, remarked that “the garden design and overall interpretation of a Mediterranean garden was excellent and the planting plan and choice of material used was consistent with your design. The planting plan sales area was well laid out and its overall appearance was professional and aesthetically pleasing hence the judges’ award.”

The Tates’ team were also awarded a Gold Medal for their show garden and company director, Benjamin Tate acknowledged that hard work and dedication were truly rewarded. “To receive this level of recognition on our debut is a testament to the exceptional talent and commitment of everyone involved. We are thrilled to have shared our love of gardening with such a wide audience.”

Adding that he was incredibly proud of the team for their outstanding work on their very first show garden at the South of England Show, Mr Tate commented: “This was a bold and exciting new venture for us, and the team embraced the challenge with tremendous passion and creativity. We look forward to building on this success in the future.”