Aberdeen’s historic Union Terrace Gardens has been revitalized through a partnership between ourselves and Ashlea Ltd, one of the UK’s leading commercial landscape providers. This remarkable project recently won a Gold Award at the 2024 Scottish Design Awards for Public Building and another Gold Award for Lighting. Additionally, it secured the prestigious Project of the Year and Public Realm Project accolades at the ASA Design Awards 2024, following its 2023 CECA Scotland Place Making Award.

LDA Design led a project team comprising Balfour Beatty, Ashlea Ltd, Arup, Stallan Brand, Ryden, McLeod and Aitken. Balfour Beatty awarded Ashlea with the soft landscaping contract.

Our supply included over £215k worth of plants for the gardens. This included a custom hand-grown city crest made from gold and green Ilex crenata, and 130 different varieties of plants. Our supply portfolio includes the Athletes Village for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the luxury hotel Grantley Hall, and various Royal Parks.

Originally opened in 1879 by architect James Matthews, Union Terrace Gardens has undergone a £28.3m rejuvenation. The gardens now feature new wheelchair-friendly routes, a children’s play area, and three new pavilions for cafes, restaurants, and cultural spaces.

The Gardens also feature extensive seating, new lighting elements, refurbished historic arches and Victorian toilets and specially commissioned artworks. Additionally, there is a new water feature, and the statues of William Wallace, Rabbie Burns, and Edward VII have been cleaned alongside, the ‘grand staircase’ leading down to the lower Gardens.

Over 20,000 plants were supplied to increase biodiversity within the Victorian park, including 1,252 Primula vulgaris, 1,853 Ophiopogon plan ‘Nigrescens’, 1,400 Brunnera, 1,270 Ajuga reptans ‘Atropurpurea’, 1,008 Anemone Honorine Jobert 2L, and thousands of Ilex crenata gold and green which made up the city crest.

Johnsons Nurseries’ marketing manager, Eleanor Richardson, said: “We were thrilled when the opportunity arose to work on such an iconic garden project, and it was great to work with the fantastic team at Ashlea once again.

“The project has breathed new life into the gardens, and we hope that our plants can be enjoyed for generations to come.”

Stuart Simpson, Director at Ashlea Ltd, said: “We were delighted to work with the Johnsons team once again on this project, transforming Union Terrace Gardens into a fresh, revitalized space. Johnsons’ top-quality plants, trees, and shrubs really enhanced the gardens and made this a truly tranquil location.”

Johnsons Nurseries and Ashlea Ltd have collaborated on numerous projects before, including The NCL2 Fulfilment Centre, Stockton, Sighthill, Glasgow, Pennine 5 Campus, Sheffield and various Center Parcs locations across the UK.

Photo credit: Chris Swan Photography

We recently joined forces with Palmer Landscapes to enhance the grounds of the newly established £9 million Highfield Care Home on the outskirts of Tadcaster.

We supplied a diverse selection of plants chosen to complement the landscaping to the value of £30,000. This included 800 Euonymus Greenspire, over 1,000 bare root hedging transplants, 260 Santolina ‘Nana’, 100 Salvia ‘Caradonna’, 275 Pachysandra terminalis, 200 Hebe’s, and 32 trees.

Meanwhile, Palmer Landscapes, headquartered in Pudsey, Leeds, took charge of soft landscaping for the project. Their contributions included supplying and installing over 450m³ of topsoil and 1,478m² of compost and wood bark for shrub beds. They also implemented irrigation systems, tree anchors, and root barriers for all the trees. In addition, Palmer Landscapes seeded and turfed over 6,000m² of land and carried out planting to enhance the project’s green spaces.

The grounds of Highfield Care Home have been turned into a vibrant oasis, where residents can enjoy a new home amongst beautiful grounds.

Set amidst serene and picturesque open parkland, Highfield Care Home offers a tranquil retreat with captivating views overlooking a serene lake. It is nestled in close proximity to the historic Roman Catholic church of Scarthingwell Park.

Highfield Care Home boasts 65 bedrooms, each designed to provide comfort and privacy for residents. The newly constructed two-story facilities feature spacious lounge areas, elegant dining spaces, and inviting communal areas, meticulously crafted to foster a sense of community and warmth along with recently transformed grounds.

Dedicated to meeting the diverse needs of its residents, Highfield Care Home offers round-the-clock residential care alongside specialised support for individuals living with dementia.

Johnsons Nurseries key accounts manager, Jack Witham, said: “It has been great to work with Palmers Landscapes again, this time to enhance the grounds of Highfield Care Home. Seeing our plants flourish in a beautiful setting has been hugely rewarding knowing that we’ve contributed to creating a peaceful environment for residents, staff and visitors to enjoy for many years to come.”

Liza Murphy, General Manager of Barchester’s Highfield Care Home, commented: “We are so grateful to the teams from Johnsons Nurseries and Palmers Landscapes for all of their hard work and generosity in helping us to create such a beautiful environment for our residents to enjoy.  Our gardens look and smell wonderful with all the gorgeous planting.  We are over the moon with how the gardens have turned out and we know how much joy the plants will bring to our residents not just in the summer months but throughout the year.”

Sam Isles, Contracts Manager at Palmer Landscapes, added, ” It was a Great all-around effort, starting from the office team, the suppliers, and finishing with the installation team. Hats off to Jack Tordoff and his team for creating such an impressive quality finish in a stunning and peaceful location. It’s lovely to see these spaces created for the residents to enjoy.

We have supplied 29,000 woodland trees and whips to the 20,000-acre Swinton Estate in Masham, North Yorkshire, to create new woodlands in the north of England.

Over 30 varieties of trees were supplied to the Estate, via The DTMS Group, which has been contracted to deliver the landscaping for the project. The varieties included Pinus sylvestris, Picea abies, Sorbus aucuparia, Quercus robur, Salix caprea, and Acer campestre.

Trees were specifically selected and sited for water and biodiversity improvements and for their many climate benefits, from providing oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide to providing resources and habitats for wildlife.

Funding for this project has come from the White Rose Forest via their Trees for Climate programme, part of the Government’s Nature for Climate Fund. The White Rose Forest is the Community Forest for North and West Yorkshire and works with landowners, businesses and communities across the region to provide support and funding for woodland creation projects that will benefit communities and the environment.

We have vast experience in contract growing for hotel developments on a large scale, having provided both Seaham Hall, in Durham, Grantley Hall in Ripon, Another Place in Ullswater and The Torridon, a 5-star luxury Scottish Highland Hotel, with substantial amounts of plants.

Johnsons Nurseries’ marketing manager, Eleanor Richardson, said: “We were excited to work on this project in collaboration with the Swinton Estate, The DTMS Group, and the White Rose Forest,”

“Johnsons has over 100 years of experience in sourcing and supplying the highest quality plants, finding the best species suited to our clients’ needs.

“The trees that we supplied included a range of native species, from pines to oaks, enhancing the natural beauty of the estate and contributing to improving biodiversity and water quality.”

Will Richardson, Forestry Advisor to the Swinton Estate said: “’The Swinton Estate have a long-term ambition to increase tree cover by 50% over the next 20 years, creating around 350ha of new mixed woodland and wood pasture. This is driven by a desire to improve sustainability and nature conservation across the estate, sequester carbon and to produce sustainable crops of timber in years to come. This has been the first phase of this programme, and we are delighted with the contributions made by the White Rose Forest, DTMS as contractors and Johnsons as tree suppliers in helping us to deliver this. We very much look forward to seeing the new woodland thrive and mature over the years”

DTMS Group’s Managing Director, Dan Lazenby, added: “We at DTMS were excited to be given the challenge of planting such a substantial quantity of trees with a deadline fast approaching.

The team achieved this despite some very challenging conditions and received positive feedback in the process from our client, Swinton Estate. It was a great scheme to be part of and provided us with opportunities to develop all staff members, including our Horticulture apprentice.

We welcome any opportunities to work alongside fellow local businesses, especially when we are enhancing the environment in the process.”

We are pleased to have completed a significant project in collaboration with Edinburgh-based P1 Contractors to landscape a new pedestrian and cyclist footbridge across the M8 as part of a £250 million regeneration north of Glasgow.

The contract, worth £190,000, saw Johnsons provide over 30,000 plants, trees and shrubs for the 58-metre-long footbridge, which will form an active travel route between the area of Sighthill and the city centre.

The landscaping work marks the completion of a 30-month build to install the bridge and represents another milestone in the delivery of the £250 million Sighthill Regeneration.

It is the biggest project of its kind in the UK outside of London and will offer affordable housing within walking distance of Strathclyde University, Queen Street Station and Glasgow’s most popular shopping locations, encouraging active travel and providing the commercial infrastructure to support and attract businesses to Glasgow and the surrounding areas.

The state-of-the-art footbridge will not only serve as a vital transportation link but also as a sustainable green space, contributing to the overall aesthetic appeal of the project.

Working closely with P1 Contractors, we have provided a diverse variety of trees, shrubs, and ornamental grasses.

Species included Alnus Glutinosa, Pinus Sylvestris, Hebe ‘Caledonia’, Rosmarinus Officinalis ‘Miss Jessop’s Upright’, Stipa Tenuissima and Carex Morrowii ‘Ice Dance’ to complement the architectural design of the footbridge and add natural charm and greenery to the surrounding environment.

Johnsons Nurseries Ltd marketing manager, Eleanor Richardson said: “We are known for our expertise in supplying top-grade plants and trees to major construction and landscaping projects, and are proud to be part of this groundbreaking initiative.

“Our extensive range of trees and plants, carefully selected for their beauty, durability, and sustainability, will not only enhance the visual appeal of the footbridge but also contribute to creating a welcoming and environmentally friendly urban space for the residents and visitors of Glasgow.”

Richard McMonagle from P1 Contractors, one of Scotland’s leading providers for the development and implementation of soft landscaping works, added: “Johnsons Nurseries has truly proven themselves as an invaluable partner on this high-profile project. Their commitment to supplying top-quality plants under tight time constraints has been instrumental in ensuring P1 Contractors delivered this project on time and to the required standard for our valued client”.

To learn more about the M8 Footbridge project, visit www.glasgow.gov.uk/article/26211/M8-Pedestrian-Bridge-Development-Footage

Earlier this year, we teamed up with York-based landscapers, Wild Landscapes, to support the firm’s landscaping project at a new restaurant in York, the York Minster Refectory.

Our supply to the project included plants and soft landscaping for the new restaurant grounds, which were officially opened by Their Majesties The King and The Queen Consort on 6 April 2023.

The King and Queen Consort visited York for the Royal Maundy Service at York Minster and revealed a plaque at the restaurant to celebrate their visit and the opening of the new brasserie.

The York Minster Refectory is based in the Grade II-listed former York Minster school and provides unique views of York Minster. The new brasserie will offer evening restaurant dining, an easy-to-use kiosk for takeaway drinks and snacks as well as private dining.

The restaurant is a joint venture between GEM Construction and The Star Group Restaurants, headed by the owner of the Starr Inn at Harome, Andrew Pern, who appointed Wild Landscapes to provide the soft landscaping for the project. Wild approached us in turn to supply the plants for the grounds in time for the royal reveal.

Plants used in the garden design included hundreds of shrubs, herbaceous, hedging and trees. Over 170 Ilex crenata plants were used to create neat edging for shrub and herbaceous borders, while cherry tree Prunus ‘The Bride’ were used as feature trees with outstanding displays of pink flowers.

Tom Davis, Director of Wild Landscapes said: “This was a really exciting project for us, made even more special by the official opening by Their Majesties The King and The Queen Consort.

“We chose Johnsons to support on this project as we knew they could deliver top quality plants that would enhance the Refectory’s classic style against the backdrop of the stunning Minster building.”

Johnsons’ Marketing Manager, Eleanor Richardson, said: “It’s an honour to have been involved in such a prestigious project located on our doorstep. We have worked with Wild Landscapes for a number of years and were pleased to help add the finishing touches to their project in time for the royal visit. I look forward to watching the plants grow and mature and hope they are enjoyed by visitors to York for many years to come.”

Our plants have been used in a number of royal-worthy grounds over the years, including Holyrood Palace, Blenheim Palace, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and Seaham Hall. Get in touch with the team today if you’d like to enquire about how we can support your next project.

We have teamed up with ATM Ltd to to supply and beautify the 12.5-acre botanical garden at York Museum Gardens.

The gardens are located just 11 miles from our head office and were planted by Boroughbridge-based landscaping contractor ATM Ltd.

The plants were used to refresh and update some of the beds within the Gardens as part of the recent Environment Agency flood defence improvements project. The planting design was developed by Steve Williams, Garden Manager at York Museum Trust; and consultants AECOM.

York Museum Gardens are located along the north bank of the River Ouse and are a listed botanical garden, containing many varieties of trees, deciduous and evergreen, native and exotic.

The Gardens were first established in the 1830s by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and The Yorkshire Museum, situated onsite, was one of the first purpose-built museums in the country. The gardens and museum were given in trust to the City of York Council in 1960 and have been managed by the York Museums Trust since 2002.

ATM Ltd, one of the UK’s leading landscaping, highway and maintenance contractors is located 18 miles down the road from the Gardens and was tasked with providing the soft landscaping for the project, following engineering works to raise an existing flood bank. Some planting had to be removed, whilst other areas along a woodland path were in need of rejuvenation.

Johnsons plants used in the project include Astilbe, Astrantia, Bergenia, Brunnera, Carex, Digitalis, Euonymus, Helleborus, Hosta, Hydrangea, Pulmonaria, Viburnum, Cercis ‘Forest Pansy’ and Clerodendrum trichotomum. They were carefully selected to ensure there would be a range of flowering plants through the year to help pollinators thrive.

Eleanor Richardson, Marketing Manager at Johnsons, said: “It’s an honour to join forces with ATM, one of our long-standing customers, to supply and beautify these local botanic gardens.

“York Museum Gardens is on our doorstep, so it has been great to visit the site and see the hard work ATM have completed and see the plants thriving. We hope the new planting will be enjoyed by visitors to York for many years to come.”

Daniel McClaren, Contracts Manager at ATM Ltd, said: “ ATM has been proud to complete the soft landscaping of this project. It was a pleasure to work with York Museum Gardens, AECOM and Johnsons of Whixley to refresh and update some of the beds within the gardens as part of the recent flood defence improvements. The plants were carefully selected with wildlife and seasons in mind. The gardens will be enjoyed all year round. ”

York Museum Trust Garden Manager, Steve Williams said: “We are committed to improving the biodiversity of our city-centre gardens which welcomes over 1.3 million visitors a year. The plants have helped us to implement a new biodiverse scheme for our Riverside walk in an area which has recently undergone flood scheme alleviation. We selected plants that would flower at different times of the year, including pollinator and butterfly friendly flowers which will help insects to thrive and also support the lifecycles of wider wildlife in the area.”

We have recently provided over five thousand plants to a five-star luxury spa hotel in County Durham, as part of the venue’s £8.5million expansion plans.

We were chosen to supply a range of plants and trees to Seaham Hall Hotel’s grounds, including its bungalow lodges, 44,000sq ft spa area and hotel terrace, as a project to develop a series of new luxury suites for the hotel also gets underway.

Johnsons worked with Richard Porter of Garden Vision Ltd, supplied the plants for the project, providing a diverse range of plants and trees, ensuring a considered approach in keeping with the property’s Georgian heritage. The supply included Allium hollandicum plants, Allium nigrum, Betula jacquemontii trees, Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’, Lavandula ‘Hidcote’, Magnolia ‘Susan’ and Nepeta faassenii. Garden Vision completed the designs for the outside spa area, terrace and lodges as well as providing the soft and hard landscaping for the projects.

Our three-generation family business has an excellent reputation for supplying the hotel trade. Previous projects include Grantley Hall in Ripon, The Torridon in Scotland and The Springs Resort & Golf Club in Oxfordshire.

Seaham Hall Hotel, which was built in 1791 in Seaham, 25 miles northeast of Durham, was converted into a luxury hotel in 2012, with its owners committed to ensuring the future of the property as the finest five-star hotel in the region. From a WWI military hospital to a secret whisky bottling facility in the Prohibition era, the Hall has a rich history which is kept alive through the character and charm of the modern-day hotel.

Today the hotel boasts 21 guest suites, an on-site spa and two restaurant concepts for guests to enjoy and has scooped a string of prestigious awards, the most recent being gold at the VisitEngland Awards 2022, the 2022 AA Inspectors’ Choice Hotel Awards and Good Hotel Guide Editor’s Choice Spa Awards in 2021. The hotel has also been named in The Times and The Sunday Times Best Places to Stay list 2023.

Johnsons of Whixley marketing manager, Eleanor Richardson, said: “We are thrilled to work with the Seaham Hall Hotel team as their ambitious development plans get underway, in collaboration with our customer Richard from Garden Vision Durham, who delivered the hard and soft landscaping of the project.

“This was a really exciting project that required incredible attention to detail to ensure that the plants and trees enhanced the property’s heritage and features, while maintaining the luxury coastal feel that guests enjoy, being so close to the beautiful Durham Heritage Coastline.

Richard Porter Director at Garden Vision Ltd said: “Garden Vision have been proud to complete the design, landscaping & planting for Seaham Hall, a client that we have a great working relationship with. Throughout the design process, I was able to call on the knowledge from Johnson’s, when needed, to ensure the planting design and implementation delivered the quality required for this historic venue.”

Ross Grieve, Managing Director from Seaham Hall Hotel, said: “The grounds around the hotel are as stunning at the hotel itself, and it’s something which our guests really enjoy – especially being out in the coastal air . Therefore it was important for us to work alongside a business who not only understand this, but have built its reputation landscaping in County Durham and the surrounding counties.”

Back in November, we loaned almost £20,000 worth of our stock to the Yorkshire Children’s Charity to support their landmark ‘A Night Under the Stars’ celebration event.

Held at the prestigious Grantley Hall, our trees, topiary and shrubs were used to dress the marquee at the event, which hosted guests from Europe, including H.S.H Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Our supply contained over 35 varieties including Betula jacquemontii, Acer plat. ‘Cleveland’, Photinia fraseri ‘Red Robin’ and Taxus baccata ‘Fastigiata’.

The Yorkshire Children’s Charity, which was established in 2022, has a focus on helping disadvantaged children in Yorkshire living in poverty or living with a disability. With the charity raising over £500,000 in the last year to support families and children living at a disadvantage, we are proud to have supported the star-studded event to celebrate their successful year, whilst toasting to the future plans of the regional charity.

Supported by Grantley Hall and Berry’s, the event was held on 4 November 2022 in a beautiful orangery and dressed by florist to the stars, Fulford Flowers. The plants we loaned were incorporated into the event design by the esteemed Party Architect and legendary Royal party planner, Johnny Roxburgh.

The exclusive, invite-only event raised over £800,000 for the charity and featured a champagne reception, an exceptional four-course banquet, a fireworks display and entertainment including the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra. The event successfully brought together some incredible highlights to achieve the charity’s goal of raising over £1,000,000 in its first year.

Some other events the charity undertook to raise this money include the Yorkshires Residential Real Estate Awards 2022, which raised over £151,693 for children across Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Ladies Lunch, as well as other beneficiary events and fundraising events by supporting businesses.

Johnsons has worked with Grantley Hall previously, when it was first opening up as a new five-star luxury hotel and spa in the Yorkshire Dales and was looking for our expert touch in the grounds. We were asked to provide thousands of plants to restore the grounds to their original splendour, in keeping with the hall’s rich history.

This project saw great success, with a number of large topiaries, including Fagus (Beech) domes and Buxus (Box) balls, as well as thousands of herbaceous, shrubs and grasses for decorational borders. To complete the project there were several large hedging elements, including Hedera Hibernica (Ivy) screens that will be used to create partitions in the Hall’s gardens.

Newcastle’s iconic Quayside on the River Tyne has recently been brought to life as part of the NE1 Summer in the City project which has transformed a number of outdoor spaces across the city.

As part of the project sixty-nine, large planters have been installed along the Quayside. The planters have been made from upcycled concrete manhole rings, which have been decorated and filled with shrubs, herbaceous, grasses and trees, alongside various art installations to enhance the planting design.

Our customer Southern Green Ltd was commissioned to design and install the planters by their client NE1 Ltd with the planting interventions designed and delivered within 10 weeks including the procurement of all materials. JCC Engineers, Trevor Atkinson Landscapes, AH Events, Glebe House Vintage, Merchant no.1, RASKL Studio and The Traveller and the Bear were also part of the team brought together by NE1 to deliver this ambitious project.

Southern Green Ltd called upon Johnsons to supply a large number of plants including Carex Testacea, Achillea ‘Cloth of Gold’ Hebe ‘Sutherlandii’, Lavandula ‘Munstead’, Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’, Salvia ‘Caradonna’, Astilbe ‘Fanal’, Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus, Campanula ‘Perla Blue’ and Verbena bonariensis.

Other pop-ups installed throughout Newcastle’s city centre have included a large open-air cinema Screen on the Green at Old Eldon Square,  ‘Wave-Field’, an installation of 8 seesaws,  the Urban Garden at Wesley Square, a 75m long pavement vinyl by artist Tim Gresham, 3D Street Art by 3D Joe & Max and even water activities on the river.

The ‘Summer in the City’ project aims to encourage tourists and locals into the city, with new attractions and activities to enjoy for all age groups.

Alex Slack, Head of Special Projects at NE1 Ltd said: “The Summer in the City project and associated Quayside interventions are the result of months of hard work, dedication and commitment of everybody involved. Emerging from lockdown and faced with both material and labour shortages (as well as a relatively short lead in) it was vital that we had the right people in place to deliver our vision. The creativity and innovative thinking of Southern Green coupled with a first-rate service from Johnsons enabled us to achieve something truly remarkable despite numerous challenges. We are absolutely thrilled with the result and are enormously grateful to all who contributed.”

Liam Haggarty, Southern Green Director, said: “It has been a privilege to be involved in yet another fantastic and innovative project working alongside friends and colleagues at NE1. The project is an exemplar for what can be achieved with a ‘can do’ attitude and a fantastic team of people all willing to go the extra mile from start to finish.

Johnsons are always great to work with and provide the highest quality plant stock. They agreed to a nursery visit at very short notice, and then collated and delivered everything to our exacting specification within a matter of days, which was one of the key factors to the successful delivery of the works on site – thank you again to Tony and his team.”

It was great to get involved in this project and bring the Quayside to life this summer. Liam came to the Nursery to choose the plants required.  The aim was to get as much colour in as possible with good quality plants, each batch of plants was tagged to indicate the grade required to be lifted. All of the plants were sent to the site on trollies to avoid damage to the plants and particularly the flowers.

This is not the first ‘pop-up’ project johnsons has been involved with, click here to see a pop-up garden we supplied in Manchester for a well-known coffee brand.

We have recently donated plants worth hundreds of pounds to two Yorkshire NHS hospitals.

The newly created Rainbow Garden at Doncaster Royal Infirmary has benefited from a donation of plants worth £500. The garden, which is situated near the main entrance of the hospital, was designed to create a place where visitors and staff could go to remember the town’s 900 plus Covid-19 victims.

Colleagues at the hospital had been raising funds since June 2020 for the project, with almost 300 supporters providing donations both large and small.

The memorial garden features flower beds, a central lawn, paving, a patio and a pergola, all of which our Doncaster-based customer, AWS Landscapes Ltd kindly provided at cost.

Plants supplied and donated include Lavandula ‘Victory’, Prunus laur. ‘Rotundifolia’, Hydrangea pan. ‘Little Lime’, Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’, Magnolia soulangeana, Achillea ‘Walther Funcke’, Echinacea purpurea, Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ and Persicaria affinis ‘Superba’.

A similar garden has been created at the hospital’s sister facility at Bassetlaw.

Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity have also received plants from Johnsons worth more than £300. The plants were first used at the Harrogate Flower Show earlier this year as part of a gold award-winning display created by Lisa Norton from Harrogate Garden Design.

The display, entitled Escape Your Mind, featured an array of plants such as Buxus Sempervirens, Euphorbia, Pittosporum Magnolia Acuminata ‘Blue Opal’, Dahlia ‘Orange Sunshine, Phlox ‘Clouds of Perfume’, Cortaderia ‘Pink Feather’ and Salix ‘Golden Sunshine’. These have now been replanted at the hospital for staff and visitors to enjoy, providing an area of rest and reflection.

Richard Parker OBE, chief executive at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals, said: “On behalf of all within Team DBTH, I want to thank Johnsons of Whixley and AWS Landscapes Ltd for their contributions to our Rainbow Gardens. The generosity shown towards our Trust throughout the past 18 months or so has been nothing short of spectacular and I am so pleased that, together, we have been able to create these beautiful memorial spaces for those who are sadly no longer with us. Once again, thank you.”

Harrogate Hospital’s business development charity and volunteer manager Sammy Lambert commented: “On behalf of the Trust I would like to thank Johnsons and Harrogate Garden Design for their generosity and donation of beautiful plants which have made such a difference to our outside areas.”

David Sowerby, director of AWS Landscapes Ltd, said: “We are indebted to all the NHS staff who have given so much during the pandemic, and to those who sadly lost their lives. As a mark of our thanks and respect, we made our own donation and carried out all the works to create this garden for all to enjoy. We hope that the garden can be a beautiful space where staff and visitors can rest and reflect away from the stress of their busy working day.”

We are incredibly pleased to be able to give something back to both hospitals via our donation of plants which has helped two outside areas bloom. We are forever grateful to the NHS staff who have given so much over the past 18 months and that they continue to do so. We hope our plants are enjoyed by staff and visitors for many years to come.

This is one of many plant donations this year, as we pledged to donate plants to 12 different charities throughout our Centenary these donations have included plants to The Blue Cross, Thirsk, a memorial garden for Sir Captain Tom Moore and Henshaw’s Arts and Crafts.

We are thrilled that the plants we donated helped clinch a gold award at this year’s Harrogate Flower Show.

The display ‘Escape Your Mind’ was created by Lisa Norton from Harrogate Garden Design, as a tribute to the role nature plays in our mental wellbeing.

The design celebrates the role that nature has played in helping people of all ages cope with the challenges created by the pandemic. The past year has been an immensely difficult time for children, parents, grandparents, business owners and entire communities. It has touched us all on a global scale.

However, one thing that has remained consistent is nature and the benefits it can bring to our mental and physical wellbeing.

Harrogate Garden Design, working with Lowes Landscapes, set out to create ‘little bits of heaven on earth’. The garden was designed to calm the mind, using elements such as well-connected space, healthy plant life, freshwater, natural materials and patterns to create a place for contemplation.

The garden was created using biophilic design principles, that use natural landscape features to create a healthy built environment for people, satisfying our need for contact with the natural world.

Lisa Norton said “It was wonderful to be part the show after such a long time in lockdown. Visitors were delighted to be out enjoying nature together again, such a delight to see so many smiling faces”

After the show, the plants worth £300, were given to Harrogate and District Hospital. They included the colourful Magnolia Acuminata ‘Blue Opal’, Dahlia ‘Orange Sunshine’, Phlox ‘Clouds of Perfume’,Cortaderia ‘Pink Feather’ and Salix ‘Golden Sunshine’.

Cheerful Nemesia Sundae ‘Vanilla Ice’ and stunning Stipa Tenuissima ‘Pony Tails’ were also donated, along with varieties of fern Polypodium vulgare, Dryopteris Filix-Mas and Blechnum spicant.

The display was completed by several Euphorbia amygdd. Robbiae, Pittosporum ten. ‘Tom Thumb’, Carex Pendula and Morrowii ‘Irish Green’. Chamomile plants Chamaemelum nobile ‘Treneague’ and box trees Buxus Sempervirens completed the display.

Interested in other projects we’ve been involved with? Click here to view our case studies 

Our plants have beautified a purpose-built ‘Yorkshire Dales’ in the town centre of Harrogate.

The mini-Yorkshire Dales was created at the front of The Yorkshire Hotel, overlooking the town’s Stray, with tonnes of soil, shrubs, and grass laid along with dry stone walling to create a beer garden in time for the ease of lockdown restrictions on April 12.

The beer garden was named ‘Ales in the Dales’ and is now open for alfresco dining and drinks. It will remain open for five weeks until the hotel can reopen its doors for indoor dining as part of stage three on May 17.

The ambitious project required: 120 tonnes of topsoil, 100 tonnes of Yorkshire Stone, 350 plants, shrubs and trees and 300 sq metres of grass.

Our plants will be loaned to the hotel for the duration of the project and include varieties such as Viburnum tinus, Betula nigra, Prunus rotundifolia, Ligustrum, Fagus sylvatica, Sesleria nitida, Anemanthele lessoniana, Ilex aquifolium and Cornus ‘Winter Beauty’.

Other local businesses who have supported the project include Charity Horticap, Nicholas Edward Gardens, Living Stone, The Hacs Group, Welcome to Yorkshire, Akula Living, David Griffin Artist and Lindum Turf.

Managing Director of the hotel group, Simon Cotton, said: “I can’t thank Ellie and the team at Johnson’s of Whixley enough for their kind and generous support of this outdoor hospitality project as part of the roadmap out of the pandemic.

The Ales In The Dales landscape has very much been a community effort and has importantly brought a lot of happiness to people passing as much as it has to those stopping by for a drink or bite to eat. ”

Marketing Manager at Johnsons, Eleanor Richardson said: “We are excited to be involved with the prestigious Yorkshire Hotel’s ‘Ale in The Dales’ as it marks the end of another lockdown.

The garden will see over 260 of our plants used to beautify the area; the plants will be loaned to the hotel for the duration of the project.  We look forward to seeing the metamorphosis of the hotels outside space and have no doubt that it will entice people back to the pub and hotel after a difficult 13 months for the hospitality industry. “

To book your table at The Yorkshire Hotel’s ‘Ales in the Dales’ visit www.thepickledsprout.co.uk

We have supplied thousands of plants to help restore the grounds of the historic Studley Royal water garden to their former glory.

The estate is just 18 miles from Johnsons’ HQ in North Yorkshire and is one of Europe’s finest examples of an 18^th-century garden. 

The planting is part of the National Trust’s long-term vision for the garden. The scheme involves planting thousands of Taxus baccata (yew), supplied by Johnsons, to replace overgrown and dying hedges. The work includes restoring all bosquets – formal plantations of trees and shrubs with growing space inside, designed to give the effect of an enclosed room.

Where possible, the aim is to help restore the garden with the bosquets providing an essential part of the structure recreating the experience visitors would have had on their visit during the 18^th century.

Following his father’s death in 1741 William Aislabie became a tour de force creating gardens at Hackfall near Grewelthorpe and at Kirby Fleetham returning back to Studley periodically to enhance and extend his father’s garden. This work was to move into realms others could only dream of when William purchased the lands belonging to Fountains Abbey. By 1770 Studley Royal now including the ruins of the abbey became a ‘breathtaking’ experience. It was said after visiting that you had been ‘kissed’ by a genius.

Work to restore Aislabies’ yew bosquets has been ongoing since 1983; the hedges are part of one of England’s most spectacular water garden ever to have been built & survived with influences coming from earlier French, Dutch, Italianate gardens.

But before all of this situated in a secluded valley, Fountains Abbey was established by a breakaway group of Benedictine monks from St Mary’s Abbey in York in 1131. The abbey operated for 400 years and was prosperous, owning vast acres of land across Yorkshire, with sheep farming being a significant income source.

Michael Ridsdale, Head Gardener at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, said: “Working with our local industries is key to the continuing success of the Yorkshire economy. Johnson’s and their former partners have been involved with this great estate for well over 50 years; locally produced stock is extremely important to us, even more so now as climate change is becoming a major issue for us all.

‘Keeping it local’ allows us to keep in constant contact with Johnsons; nothing can better for the buyer than being able to jump in the van and see how their stock is growing. We have a lovely relationship with all the staff at Johnson’s and it must be gratifying for them to be able to walk round the estate with their families and say we were part of that. “

Johnsons’ marketing manager, Eleanor Richardson, added: “We feel privileged to be a part of more than 300 years of history. Since we were children, me & other members of our family have visited Fountains Abbey hundreds of times. The abbey’s past is genuinely fascinating and were excited to watch the hedging grow and flourish, returning the grounds to their former 18^th-century glory.”

Find out more about the National Trust’s conservation work and donate via this link below www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fountainsabbey

Interested in other projects we have supplied? click here to view our case study section

We have notched up another impressive plant supply during our 100th year, teaming up with Whiting Landscape ltd to enhance outdoor areas at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Europe’s leading science campus.

The Oxfordshire-based science, innovation and technology campus is the size of a small town and occupies over 700 acres. More than 200 organisations are based there; it is home to a scientific community of more than 6,000 people.

Many global firsts have been achieved at the campus, including the discovery of the world’s largest prime number, the building of Europe’s first energy-producing fission reactor and the first transistorised computer.

The UK’s first Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) is a recent ground-breaking addition to the site.

Harwell is now looking to expand, adding millions of square feet of new buildings, additional public areas and campus amenities – consolidating Harwell as one of the fastest-growing sites dedicated to science and technology in the UK.  At 48,000 sq. ft, Zeus is the latest building on campus to reach practical completion.

Landscape construction and maintenance firm Whiting Landscape Ltd has been responsible for the soft landscaping package across new areas of the site, such as the area surrounding Zeus since 2016 with further work still ongoing.

We have supplied thousands of plants across the campus including more than 4,000 to enhance the grounds of the Zeus building, a multi-occupancy R&D, laboratory, office and engineering hub. Varieties include Vinca minor, Polypodium vulgare, Ajuga reptens, Carex pendula and Hypericum androsaemum.

Outside space around the Cobalt building has been improved by the planting of more than 5,000 plants and trees, including varieties such as 114 Pinus Mugo’ Mops’, 337 Fagus Sylvatica, 373 Rubus ‘Green Carpet’ and 205 Mahonia ‘Apollo’.

Kevin Jarvis, buyer for Whiting Landscapes Ltd said: “Whiting Landscape have enjoyed an excellent working relationship with Johnsons of Whixley for the past 40 years.  This relationship continues to flourish and is based on the quick response offered at the tender stage through to the flexible and supportive approach at the point of delivery. With future development opportunities at Harwell we look forward to working alongside Johnsons to offer the client the best in terms of value and quality available to the market.”

We are no stranger to campus plant supply, having worked with a number of universities including the Cambridge Medical Campus, Inverness Campus, University of Hull Campus, University of Newcastle Campus and Sheffield Hallam Campus.

We have supplied over 1,000 trees, plants and shrubs for a revamp of York St John University’s Lord Mayor’s Walk campus.

Borders along the walk, at the front of the university’s main campus, were replanted with more than 30 varieties.

We have enjoyed a long-term partnership with the university, supplying high-quality plants for more than 15 years.

Included in our supply was a range of trellis varieties and three Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’, along with Hypericum Calycinum, and Euonymus fort. ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’.

Over 50 Gillenia trifoliata were introduced, in addition to 40 Doronicum plantagineum ‘Excelsum’ and 10 Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’.

More than 200 Calamagrostis acut. ‘Karl Foerster’ grasses were planted, with 160 Lavender Munstead and more than 70 Hemerocallis ‘Red Rum’ and ‘Corky’ among the colourful varieties chosen for the borders.

Lord Mayor’s Walk forms a link with Gillygate, Clarence Street, Monkgate and Goodramgate in the centre of the city of York. Designated a Character Area, the site has been home to educational provision since the mid-19^th century.  York St John University is the main feature of the area, that runs along the northern side of the city wall.

Rob Scott, Head Gardener at York St John University, said: “We strive to create welcoming and beautiful outdoor spaces for students, staff and visitors. It’s a privilege to have this visible, central location in the heart of York and we want our gardens to stand out from the crowd. This partnership with trusted local supplier Johnsons helps us to maintain a green and vibrant campus with year-round colour.”

We have worked with several universities recently, including creating a green buffer zone for a project between Sheffield University and a nearby infant school, and supplying plants for a £200m redevelopment of the University of Hull campus.

We have teamed up with P1 Contractors Ltd and EMA Architects to make an ‘Eden’ in the grounds of Urban Eden, contemporary residential development in Edinburgh.

EMA Architects designed Urban Eden to create a ‘leave the city behind without leaving the city’ feel, designed in a triangle of colony houses which are very much a part of the city’s history.  It’s gardens, and outdoor space is at the centre of the design with views of Calton Hill, Arthurs Seat and Salisbury available to view from the new developments.

P1’s works included the full soft landscaping package across two phases of the development which has now spanned four years.

Richard McMonagle, Director of P1 Contractors, said: “ P1 has had involvement in both phases of the development from an early stage, being just a stone’s throw from our Head Office it was development we were keen to be involved in. We turned to Johnsons to help our bid initially at tender stage, and this early involvement was key to winning the project, we knew that despite the contract duration Johnsons would continue to supply the high-quality stock we required to make this project a success.”

Our plant supply included over 13,000 shrubs, 4,000 herbaceous plants and over 200 trees.

Pollinator-friendly varieties such as lavender, nepeta and geranium were included making it wildlife friendly too.

The residential development won ‘Large Housing Development Of The Year’ at the Scottish Home Awards 2017.

So many housing developments have limited planting these days to maximise parking facilities, it’s no wonder there’s a decline in bees.

It’s great to be associated with this fantastic new residential development that’s green spaces and wildlife are at the forefront of its design.

Other Scottish projects we have been involved with include The Helix Project at Falkirk, the new Queensferry Crossing at Edinburgh, Donaldsons ,  The Event Complex The Torridon Hotel, and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

We have supplied plants worth more than £50,000 to help transform a new luxury lodge resort set in the heart of the Peak District.

Rivendale Lodge Retreat, previously known as Rivendale Caravan Park, has been redeveloped by leading lodge resort operator Darwin Escapes. The new lodge resort opened in September and offers luxury self-catering lodge accommodation alongside a bistro restaurant and bar.  Bespoke treehouses will also be added to the site.

Our supply included more than 20,000 plants including hedging, shrubs, herbaceous and aquatics to the modernisation scheme, that includes hard and soft landscaping around the site.

Included in the supply were more than 4,000 ferns such as Dryopteris affinis, thousands of grasses, including Luzula sylvatica, and hundreds of geraniums.

The 36-acre resort on the edge of Alsop-en-le-Dale village is set in a former quarry, and the site includes woodland areas, pastures and a pond that attracts ducks, geese, frogs and even newts.

We have supplied thousands of plants to Darwin Escapes resorts across the UK, from Kent and Somerset to Cornwall and Norfolk. Resorts have included Sandymouth Holiday Resort and Cheddar Woods

The UK’s tourism industry is booming with staycations proving incredibly popular. People realise they don’t need to go abroad to enjoy a break so new destinations such as Rivendale will be on many people’s lists to visit next year.

Our plants have beautified and enhanced the new luxury resort’s grounds.  We hope holidaymakers and wildlife enjoy the plants for many years to come.

Group Grounds and Utilities Manager for Darwin Escapes, Kris Sutton said: “We’re delighted to have worked with the Johnsons of Whixley team again at our newly redeveloped Rivendale Lodge Retreat. They have been our main suppliers for many resorts in the Darwin Escapes portfolio, and we always receive top-quality stock.  The recent supply of plants for Rivendale has ensured the resort blends with the natural surroundings, and we are really pleased with the finished look.

Johnsons of Whixley team up with LDC Ltd and Studio Loci to create a private sanctuary for a family home

We recently teamed up with award-winning landscapers, LDC Limited and Landscape Architects, Studio Loci to create an elaborate private garden for a residence in Surrey.

The Springhill Garden is based at a private residence in Guildford. The owners commissioned a total redesign of the outdoor space to showcase the views over North Downs and to create a garden fit for all the family.

The jewel in the crown is a stunning tiered garden to the rear of the property. The first level features an entertainment space including a large area for seated guests, with access via a grand entrance with a 23-step staircase connecting it to the main garden. The steps are bordered by a prairie style planting scheme to provide year-round vibrancy and colour.

The second tier of space is a lawn that provides a flat, open space for children to play. This area is surrounded by a planting scheme of pleached trees and yew hedging that separates the area from the rest of the garden whilst also protecting the views over the downs.

The final level, which is accessed by an additional set of steps, leads down to the private tennis court that is shielded by an embankment.

The garden was designed by Studio Loci and the contract work carried out by LDC Ltd, using more than 800 plants supplied by Johnsons.

Among the plants supplied were Lavandula ‘Hidcote’, Calamagrostis acut. ‘Karl Foerster’, Pennisetum alop. ‘Hameln’, and Stipa tenuissima.

Landscape Architect, Tom Prince from Studio Loci said: ” LDC have been more than happy with the service provided by Johnsons over the last few years. The quality of nursery stock has always been to a very high standard and we look forward to working with Johnson well into the future.”

We hope the garden provides amazing memories for the family for many years to come. It is an incredible space, with every area being utilised and surrounded by wonderful plants and trees.

This is one of many private gardens we have supplied via our customers in recent times including a parterre garden in Ilkley, a large domestic garden in North Yorkshire and a sloping garden in Harrogate.

We have donated plants worth hundreds of pounds for a magical garden to help children cope with grief.

The garden, at the Marie Curie Hospice in Bradford, will be a tranquil space where children can be themselves, explore their surroundings and escape their reality for a short while.

Our plant donation was worth more than £800 to the hospice, that cares for terminally ill patients and their families while Leeds Landscapers, Aire Valley Landscaping Services gave up their time to design and plant the garden.

Included in our supply were perennials such as Verbena bonariensis, Tiarella ‘Spring Symphony’, Salvia ‘Caradonna’, Crocosmia ‘George Davidson’ and Lavandula ‘Hidcote’.

Climbing varieties included Trachelospermum jasminoides, Hydrangea petiolaris and Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ perfect for covering trellises and fences in the new garden. Several Amelanchier alnifolia ‘obelisk’ trees were provided, along with grasses such as Ophiopogon ‘Nigrescens’.

The garden aims to provide a safe yet stimulating space where children can go with an adult to enjoy some time out and enjoy being a child again.

The magical space includes surprise elements such as fairy doors and toadstools hidden among the greenery, along with sensory sections with running water and scented plants.

A hospice spokesman explained: “Children may be worried about having fun due to an awareness of their wider family’s emotional needs. However, this space is for them. The Magical Garden will enable children to spend ‘time out’ exploring and having fun during very stressful and upsetting times. This will be their space to play, relax, explore, gain a sense of normality and be themselves.

“We also hope that through engaging in creative thinking, this will strengthen their bond with the adult and help them to have difficult conversations about grief and death.”

We are delighted to support this initiative to help children through what will, in all probability, be the most difficult time of their young lives. The garden will offer them a valuable space to take time out and be a child again, as well as helping them to talk about how they feel.

This is one of many projects we have donated to in recent years including Springwater School and the BBC Children in Need, DIY SOS ‘Big Build Project’.

We recently teamed up with one of the UK’s top landscape and maintenance contractors, Ashlea Ltd to complete the soft landscaping at the Whinfell Forest Centre Parcs Visitor Centre, giving it a new look for reopening after lockdown restrictions.

The popular holiday destination is situated at Penrith, on the edge of the Lake District National Park. Set within 400 acres, Whinfell Forest is the largest of Center Parcs’ five UK villages, offering a range of indoor and outdoor activities, restaurants and shops that attracts thousands of holidaymakers every year.

Landscape and maintenance specialist Ashlea Ltd has completed several hard and soft landscaping projects at the site in recent years. The latest includes clearing and replanting the banking at the visitor centre.

Our supply included more than 250 plants to complete the banking’s transformation including a mixture of shrubs, grasses, and ferns with varieties such as Euonymus ‘Emerald Gaiety’, Pinus mugo, Choisya ternata ‘Sundance’, Cotinus’ Royal Purple’, Mahonia x media ‘ Charity’, Miscanthus sinensis ‘ Zebrinus’ and Dryopteris erythrosora.

Wayne Dand, Contracts Director at Ashlea Ltd, said: Once again Johnsons Of Whixley excelled in the delivery and supply of mature shrubs to enhance the Visitors Centre embankment prior to the park opening In July 2020. The embankment is situated on a busy route to the visitors centre and is always far too busy to close the footways for completion of the works. Due to the park being closed during the lockdown, the opportunity came to remove the old and tired planting and replace with a new mature planting design to freshen the area for reopening.

It’s great to have supplied another area of the well-loved Whinfell Forest Center Parcs via our long-standing customer Ashlea Ltd. Thousands of families visit here each year, so it’s fantastic to be enhancing the already beautiful outside space with hundreds of our plants.

Motorists stopping for a break at the new Skelton Lakes service station on the M1 near Leeds can enjoy glorious landscaped lakeside gardens thanks to us and Landscaping firm Brambledown Landscape Services Ltd.

Our plant supply to the scheme was worth more than £110,000, which aims to bring new levels of design and quality to visitors when it opens this summer.

The area, at Junction 45, will include a business centre and community facilities, in addition to a range of food and drink outlets, a visitor area and lakeside viewing deck across a total of 30 acres. The main building will feature exposed timber beams and a ‘living green roof’ to reflect the landscape.

Our supply included more than 25,000 plants for the landscaping scheme, including more than 3,900 Persicaria ‘Darjeeling Red’, 3,600 Carpinus betulus, 2,800 crataegus monogyna and 1,100 Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’.

Also incorporated in the supply was over 400 trees, with varieties including over 60 Acer camp. ‘Streetwise’, 120 Betula pendula, 60 Alnus glutinosa and 45 Pinus sylvestris.

Brambledown Director, Paul Curry said: “It was a pleasure to work with Johnsons of Whixley again on such a large Commercial Landscape Project near Leeds. We have continued to plant thousands of trees and shrubs at Skelton Lakes Service Station throughout the Covid-19 pandemic while implementing all necessary Public Health England and Government industry safe working practices. It has been a very challenging project, but we have worked very closely with the client, and the main contractor to ensure our programmed landscape works could progress.

Skelton Lakes aims to bring a new concept of the motorway service station to Yorkshire, with unprecedented levels of design set in acres of gardens.

The development will form part of a ‘Green corridor’ linking Grade 1 listed Temple Newsam House to the north and Rothwell Country Park to the south.

One of our amenity sales reps, Andrew Barker, has set about creating a vertical living wall in his backyard during the lockdown period.

Andrew was influenced to create his living wall after seeing customer Brambledown Landscapes Ltd build a living wall for retail giant Barker and Stonehouse along with the many benefits it has for the environment.

Barker and Stonehouse’s living wall planted and maintained by Brambledown Landscapes Ltd

A variety of our plants including, Cyrtomium fortunei P9, Carex oshimensis ‘Everest’ P9, Heuchera ‘Caramel’  P9, Pennisetum alop. ‘Hameln’ P9 and Asplenium scolopendrium P9 were used to complete his living wall project.

A living wall has many benefits, including the improvement of air quality, reducing energy costs (if placed alongside a building), reducing noise levels, aesthetically pleasing and water management.

We asked Andrew his top tips for creating a living wall and what he used to do so, here is what he had to say below:

1. What equipment did you need to create a living wall? Pressure-treated timber, premade plant pocket material and a lot of screws.

2. What plants did you choose and why? I wanted a mixture of evergreen and deciduous perennials to achieve some structure with seasonal interest and tried to use some older lines that we had on the nursery to reduce waste.

3. How long did it take you to build?  It took a day to build the frame, half a day to fix in place and nearly a full day to plant up

4. What aftercare does a living wall require? With a small amount of substrate in each pocket water monitoring or an automatic irrigation system is needed—also, the use of a balanced liquid feed schedule throughout the year. The rest of the work will be standard cultural work to the individual plants to keep them looking their best.

We have teamed up with one of the UK’s largest landscaping companies, Ashlea Ltd to help the grounds of the new Waterfront Business Park in Barrow-In-Furness bloom.

The £3.5 million project comprises of offices, workshops and industrial buildings that are already home to several businesses including BAE, that has occupied a sizeable unit since phase one of the scheme opened in 2017.

Located at the gateway to Britain’s ‘energy coast’, the development is regarded as a hotspot for growing businesses.

The team at Ashlea completed the groundworks and planting for the grounds of the business park.

Johnsons supplied trees, hedging, grasses and shrubs for the scheme, including varieties such as Betula pendula, Pinus Nigra, Miscanthus sinensis, Stipa tenuissima, Crataegus monogyna, Prunus spinosa and Viburnum opulus.

Ashlea Ltd Contracts Director Wayne Dand said: ”Once again Johnsons Of Whixley has excelled themselves with the quality of plants, trees and service provided. The coastal landscape design of ornamental grasses is starting to develop well.”

We are delighted to have been Ashlea’s chosen supplier for this project. This is one of many similar projects we have supplied in recent years, and it is great to see our plants help this new business park to ‘bloom’. We look forward to working with Ashlea Ltd again soon.

We have teamed up with four other businesses as part of a £40m transformation project where a former council depot has been converted into an award-winning mixed-use development.

The King’s Stables Road site which is situated in a historic quarter of Edinburgh includes a seven-storey private apartment block. This mixed-use development consists of 166 premium student accommodation, private roof terraces, a four-star apart-hotel, and a series of ground-floor commercial spaces, complete with stunning private and public courtyards.

Construction firm Bowmer & Kirkland delivered the scheme designed by award-winning architecture & landscape architects Fletcher Joseph Associates and Harrison Stevens. With P1 Contractors enlisting Johnsons to supply the plants to complete their soft landscaping elements.

The historic location presented several challenges. An extensive archaeological survey was carried out to determine the maximum depth of excavation to avoid disturbing medieval ground contents, and to preserve the historic boundary wall. Construction work had to be phased across several months to minimise the impact on surrounding roads, businesses and residents.

We supplied a number of tree and plant varieties to compliment P1’s landscaping works. Trees included the multi-stemmed Amelanchier ‘Robin Hill’ in substantial 100-litre pots, Platanus orientalis ‘Minaret’, Amelanchier lamarckii and Quercus palustris.

Other plant species included shrubs, herbaceous and grass varieties such as Heuchera ‘Autumn Leaves’, Persicaria ‘Darjeeling Red’, Crocosmia ‘George Davidson’, Stipa gigantea, Cornus stolonifera ‘Flaviramea’ and Deschampsia cespitosa.

The improved public realm allows occupants and the wider public to weave their way through reopened historic closes and well-lit courtyards.

The student accommodation building is orientated to enjoy stunning views of the nearby castle and across the city from individual terraces or via a large private terrace on the fifth floor, which features carefully curated planting. Other shared facilities include an integrated cinema, laundry, social lounge with a co-work area, gym and seminar room adding to the value of this accommodation.

Portions of the scheme have already scooped several awards, including Private Halls of Residence of the Year at the recent Student Accommodation of the Year ceremony.

Richard McMonagle, Director of p1 Contractors Ltd, said: “We are delighted to have teamed up with Johnsons of Whixley again on this project. Although not the largest project we have worked together on, the demand here was for quality given the nature and location of the project, knowing we would get this from Johnsons made it an easy choice. As always, Johnsons made life easy for us accommodating last-minute changes and deliveries into a tight city-centre location.”

We have donated a number of trees and hedging plants to help rejuvenate and enhance the local playing fields and caravan site at a local village, Rufforth.

Redevelopment of Rufforth cricket pavilion, changing rooms, bar and caravan park are all part of planned works by the Rufforth Playing Fields Association.

Over the winter months, members have been busy litter picking and planting spring bulbs, along with 250 cell grown trees and shrubs donated by the Forestry Commission.

We donated 300 Crataegus Monogyna (hawthorn), nine fruit trees including Malus Domestica and Prunus dom ‘Victoria’ and associated rabbit protection, tree ties and stakes.

The forestry commission trees have been used to create a woodland walkway for dog walkers while our donation has been used to create a community orchard and segregation hedge around the campsite area.

Andrew Barker, who works in the sales department at Johnsons and lives in Rufforth village, said: “This has been a fabulous project that has brought together the community and various stakeholders of the playing fields. All would not have been possible without these kind donations.

“One of the great aspects of working for a company like Johnsons is their view on corporate social responsibility and the way they use their capabilities by providing local charitable projects such as this with plant material.”

Another local, Family Business, Make it Wild have been working with us and other nurseries to help plant the trees of the future, having pledged to plant 100,000 trees this decade, to form part of the ‘Northern Forest’.

The North of England has significantly fewer trees than other parts of the country, with just 7.6% of the region covered in woodland. The Woodland Trust is working with several partners including Make it Wild to plant over 50 million trees across northern sites and cities including Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Hull and Sheffield which will help to form the ‘Northern Forest’.

Since the beginning, Make it Wild have planted a whopping 36,000 trees across their land with Yorkshire suppliers including Johnsons of Whixley. Their mission is to support biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

The eco-friendly family that run Make it Wild set about their mission nearly ten years ago when they purchased 25 acres of land on the banks of the River Nidd. The land, which is adjacent to the village of Kirk Hammerton, located on the outskirts of York, is now known as Sylvan Nature Reserve. The project showed them how good land management could create a haven for wildlife and humans with 18,000 British, deciduous trees planted along with 8 acres of wild-flower meadow.

Following on from their successes at Sylvan Nature Reserve, the Neave family purchased a further 111 acres just outside Summerbridge near Harrogate, that has formed ‘Bank Woods’, a far larger habitat project incorporating ancient woodland.

Make it Wild encourage people to take responsibility for their carbon footprint. They offer individuals and businesses the possibility of offsetting their own carbon footprint through planting trees. This proved very popular as a Christmas gift, and also with businesses wanting to improve their ‘green’ credentials.

They plant trees and promote the purchase of eco-friendly, plastic-free and zero waste products on their website, such as Bee Wax Food Wraps and Bamboo Cotton Buds. Furthermore, they educate people about the benefits of protecting natural environments.

Tree varieties supplied and planted over the last nine years include Betula pendula, Prunus avium, Prunus padus, Sorbus Aucuparia, Acer campestre, Malus Sylvestris, Corylus avellana, Crataegus monogyna, Prunus spinosa, Viburnum opulus, Rosa canina and Ilex aquifolium.

These tree-planting projects aim to help tackle climate change, reduce the risk of flooding, clean the air and improve health and wellbeing.

Founder of Make it Wild, Christopher Neave said: “Johnsons of Whixley have been wonderful partners in our mission to help nature. It has been great having such a helpful business so close to us. They have always been able to assist us with good advice and high-quality trees.”

We have teamed up with one of the UK’s top landscaping firms, Ashlea Ltd, to enhance the grounds of a York retail park as part of a £15m refurbishment scheme.

Monks Cross, just outside the city centre, was built in the 1990s and was in need of some TLC to help improve the outdated exterior.

We have supplied plants for a number of makeover schemes at the park since it opened, with the two businesses located less than 15 miles apart.

GMI Construction undertook the alteration and remodelling works to existing shop facades, canopies, walkways and car parks, as well as the construction of four new retail pods.

The company enlisted Ashlea Ltd to carry out the soiling and soft landscaping package.

The work included the soiling of newly installed raised planters and planting a total of 7,000 shrubs, hedging, herbaceous and several mature trees.

These plants were supplied by Johnsons, and included 550 Ilex Crenata ‘Convexa’, 2,000 Carpinus betulus, 300 Festuca ‘glauca’, 200 Hebe’ Red Edge’, 250 Lonicera ‘Maygreen’ and 200 Lavandula ‘grosso’.

The trees provided included Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’, Sorbus auc. ‘Sheerwater Seedling’ and Betula pendula ‘Fastigiata’.

Rob Brooks, contracts manager at Ashlea Ltd, added: “This was a challenging scheme as the site is a live retail park open to the public on a daily basis. Johnsons’ logistics of delivering materials and moving them around the site to their specific locations was a key factor in completing our soft landscaping works, along with their high-quality plants.”

It’s wonderful for Johnsons to have teamed up with long-standing customer Ashlea Ltd to supply a scheme so local to us.

Our supply to Monks Cross goes back to the 1990s, so it’s great to supply this retail park once again. We have many year’s experiences in providing plants to retail and leisure sectors, with recent substantial supplies to Retail Parks Thorpe Park and Teesside Park.

We have teamed up with Aberdeen-based landscapers Life Landscaping to help create a memorial garden at Hazlehead Park.

The Rainbow Garden is a peaceful haven away from the bustle of the park, where bereaved parents and families can reflect. At the centre of the garden is a stunning bronze sculpture, Fleeting, with a flowing design of flying birds encircling a seat.

The garden has an arched entrance and further private seating areas, in addition to a dedicated area where flowers can be left.

The Rainbow Garden opened in summer 2019 in response to a request from families affected by past practices around the cremation of babies at Aberdeen Crematorium. Parents had input into the design of the garden, by TGP Landscape Architects, taking inspiration from the song ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’.

Soft landscaping works were completed by Life Landscaping, including installing lawns, trees and thousands of plants supplied by us.

Among the plants, supplied were 335 Miscanthus sin. ‘Morning Light’, 260 Aquilegia vulgaris 2L, 250 Rhodendron in variety 7.5L, 160 Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ 2L, and over 100 Lavandula ‘Hidcote’ 2L.

Hazlehead Park is rich in history, including land gifted to Aberdeen by King Robert the Bruce as part of the ‘Freedom Boundary’ in 1319. Today the 180-hectare park is enjoyed by families, walkers and runners and includes two golf courses, a maze, mini zoo, woodland walks, nature trails, a café, children’s playground and two formal rose gardens, the Queen Mother’s Rose Garden and the North Sea Memorial Rose Garden.

Life Landscaping owner Ryan Pedersen said: “It was such an important project to be a part of and we were very honoured to take part.  With this space, families now have a place to remember those who have passed and it can be visited all year round.”

Johnsons hope the garden provides an area where bereaved parents can remember and reflect in a quieter area of the park that is surrounded by beautiful flowers, sculptures and outdoor space.

This is one of many projects we have supplied in Aberdeen in recent times including  The Event Complex and Baird Family Hospital.

The Project

We have supplied more than 25,000 plants to The Parks Trust, an independent charity that cares for around 6,000 acres of parkland and green space across Milton Keynes.

In most places, it’s common for parks to be managed by the local authority, but in Milton Keynes, the Trust has ownership to ensure the city’s unique green landscape is managed and protected forever without having to compete for funds with other council departments.

Caring for river valleys, ancient woodlands, lakesides, parks and landscaped areas alongside the main roads that represent 25% of the city, the Trust was created in 1992 and endowed with a substantial property and investment portfolio, that pays for the vital work of nurturing and enhancing the landscape, remaining entirely self-funded.

Plants Supplied 

Our supply to The Parks Trust included more than 20,000 hedging transplants including 9,000 Cornus, 3,500 Ligustrum ovalifolium, more than 1,200 Crataegus monogyna and over 1,000 Acer campestre. Shrub varieties included over 800 Hypericum ‘Hidcote’, 500 Pachysandra terminalis and 600 Euonymus ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold.

86 10-12 girth trees were also included with varieties such as Betula Jacquemontii, Carpinus betulus and Tilia Cordata all planted at Campbell Park.

Graham Richardson, Group Managing Director at Johnsons, said: “We’re delighted to play a part in the project that is turning Milton Keynes green, with our plants, shrubs and trees ready to be showcased around the city. The Park Trust does an incredible job of caring for its much-needed green space, continuing to take ownership of additional areas as the city expands.

Rob Riekie Landscape and Operations Director for The Parks Trust said: “Each year we plant between 30,000 – 40,000 shrubs and trees to help to maintain and develop the green spaces within our care in Milton Keynes. The high-quality plants supplied by Johnsons help us do this as well as helping to develop the city for future generations 

 This is one of many parks Johnsons have supplied in recent years including Saughton Park, Edinburgh, Hirst Park, Northumberland and Brooke Park, Ireland.

For further information about The Parks Trust, visit www.theparkstrust.com.

We recently teamed up with Gavin Jones Ltd, part of the Nurture Landscape Group to supply plants as part of a make-over at one of the UK’s busiest retail parks (Teeside Park).

Our supply included thousands of flowering shrubs and trees for a landscaped central area at Teeside Park, a major shopping and retail development at Stockton-on-Tees that includes all the major high street names, from River Island to Showcase Cinema, as well as a large food court area.

The park was created in 1988 but since then, footfall has increased dramatically, leading to some issues with traffic and parking. A revamp scheme was drawn up by owners British Land, that relocated parking, transforming the existing area into a new pedestrianised food and shopping area known as The Spark. A newly landscaped area will also be created along the park’s eastern terrace.

Grounds maintenance specialists Gavin Jones Ltd, worked with landscape architects Macgregor Smith and Key Property Solutions, to help with the make-over at Teeside Park including the soft landscaping that included planting 1000’s of Johnsons plants and the installation of soft artificial turf for children’s play areas.

Darren Hardman, North East regional Contracts Manager at Gavin Jones, said: “We recognise that family time is valuable and wanted to create a space that offers families the opportunity to interact and bond. Retail parks and landscaping are now trending towards being family-orientated spaces as recently demonstrated in the recently completed Glasgow Fort shopping complex, and we are determined to lead the way.”

Johnsons supply included more than 34,000 plants that included over 17,000 Ornamental grasses and 11,000 ferns with varieties such as Polystichum setiferum, Sesleria nitida and Polypodium vulgare all used.

Over 6,000 herbaceous varieties were also included with Achillea, Salvia and Astrantia’s all proving popular in the planting plan.

Tony Coles, Amenity Sales Manager at Johnsons, said: “Teeside Park is one of the busiest retail developments in the UK and we are delighted to be involved in this ambitious landscaping scheme. Hopefully, it will attract even more visitors to the park, who can take a break from shopping in a green oasis.”

We have considerable expertise in working with retail and leisure landscaping schemes, with past projects including the Glasgow Fort Shopping Centre, Thorpe Park Retail Park and Spinningfields in Manchester.

We recently teamed up with one of the UK’s largest landscaping companies, Ashlea Ltd, to supply thousands of plants to a new £15m health centre in Barrow-in-Furness.

The state-of-the-art Alfred Barrow Health Centre, in Duke Street, occupies the site of the former Alfred Barrow School.

The facility provides a variety of primary, community and social care services to the Morecambe Bay community with three GP practices, the Morecambe Bay Clinical Commissioning Group, two foundation trusts and a Boots Pharmacy.

The original Victorian building has been retained as a response base for the North West Ambulance NHS Trust.

Commercial landscaper Ashlea Ltd provided the groundworks and planting that surround the new centre then turned to us to provide the thousands of plants required.

Plants supplied incorporated 4,000 shrubs, including Griselinia littoralis, Hebe ‘Wiri Mist’, Pachysandra ‘Green Carpet’, Euonymus ‘Ovatus Aureus’, Vinca minor ‘atropurpurea’ and Hedera helix. Several trees were also included in the supply, with Betula jacquemontii among the varieties provided.

Ashlea Ltd Contracts Director Wayne Dand said: “Due to programme delays, the scheme became a challenge to all. Once again, Johnsons Of Whixley excelled themselves with delivery and quality. The scheme was handed over on time, to specification and budget.”

This is just one of many health facility projects we have been involved with recently including Baird Family Hospital, Aberdeen, Royal Derby Hospital and Maggies Centre in Oldham.

Aberdeen based landscapers, Landform Ltd, recently teamed up with us to supply plants and complete the soft landscape contract element of the new £163.7 million pound hospital and cancer treatment centre in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The new ‘Baird Family Hospital’ will replace the existing ageing Aberdeen Maternity Hospital with additional services, including breast and gynaecology services.

The new ‘ANCHOR centre’ is the first of it’s kind in Scotland providing modern and high-quality accommodation for the delivery of co-ordinated Oncology and Haematology day patient and outpatient services.

Landform Ltd working through main contractor Graham Construction secured the soft landscape works, manufactured and installed all stainless steel railings, resin bound paths, timber crib support walls, wildflower areas and a new pedestrian steel and timber bridge.

Plants supplied by Johnsons have beautified the grounds at the new hospital and centre with tree varieties supplied including Betula Jacquemontii, Magnolia ‘Galaxy’, Magnolia ‘Sundew’ and Prunus ‘Cheal’s Weeping’. Shrubs included 100’s of Euonymus fort. ‘Emerald Gaiety’, Lavandula angustifolia, Sarcococca humilis, Hebe ‘Sapphire’, 800 Calluna vulgaris varieties and over 400 Vinca minor ‘Atropurpurea’.

The new hospital and centre will help provide quality care to those in need in the Aberdeen and surrounding areas with high quality, modern facilities.

Landform Ltd’s Director, Jake Dickie said: “As a premium contractor in all sectors we work in it is vital our suppliers match our quality standards, ethos and attention to detail. We have sourced our plant material through Johnsons of Whixley for many years now and our relationship has been built on their similar ethos to ours. From their customer service, plant sourcing, supply and premium delivery service direct to site, this enabled us to complete our soft landscape project to the specification and quality standards set out by our client. “

It’s great to see the progress of this new development, Landforms landscaping works and our plant supply plays an essential part in the visual aesthetics of the hospital and centre… We hope the plants are enjoyed by the staff and visitors for many years to come. We look forward to seeing the project completed later next year.

This isn’t the first hospital we have supplied in recent years, in 2017 we supplied Maggie’s Centre in Oldham with herbaceous, trees and screening plants and most recently we helped turn ‘Donaldson’s a former hospital into luxury apartments.

We recently teamed up with Willow Heart Garden Design to beautify the grounds of a new luxury development by Citadel Homes Ltd in the rural village of Talkin, Brampton, Cumbria.

The new development by Citadel Homes Ltd comprises of 6 traditionally styled luxury detached houses and bungalows that are located between the Talkin village and the picturesque 165-acre Talkin Tarn Country Park. The park boasts mature woodland, meadows and an 18,000-year-old glacial lake which has been used for water sports for 100’s of years.

Citadel Homes Ltd enlisted Philippa Baldwin, owner of Willow Heart Garden Design to provide the design and soft landscaping to help beautify the grounds of the new development.

The rural location and woodland surroundings were taken into consideration when designing along with the buff stone and cream rendered walls which were complemented by the planting.

Our supply included a large number of Shrubs, Trees, Herbaceous and Evergreen hedging including Buxus sempervirens which were used to give a distinct formal appearance outside the homes.

Other evergreen varieties were used to create privacy and boundaries between each property.

Tree varieties included Acer ‘Emerald Queen’, Betula jacquemontii and Carpinus betulus ‘Pyramidalis that were planted to add height and maturity to the landscaping.

Shrubs were carefully selected for specific locations and included several different varieties such as Viburnum tinus, Prunus laurocerasus ‘Otto Luyken’, Photinia fraseri ‘Red Robin’, Hebe ping. ‘Pagei’, Cotoneaster ‘Coral Beauty’, Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald n Gold’ and Sarcocca confusa, known for its delightful winter scent that will be enjoyed when entering or leaving the new properties.

Garden Designer, Philippa Baldwin said: “It’s been wonderful to work with Johnsons who offer such a personal service to every part of the process from beginning to end, nothing is a problem and I look forward to working with them again in the future.   It has also been a pleasure to work with Citadel Homes who have considered their environment when landscaping and offer their future home owners a fabulous start to their gardens”.

This is one of many new developments we have got involved with supplying this year including Colindale Gardens, London, Chapel Wharf Apartments, Manchester and Spinning Acres, Leeds.

Our wholesale Xpress division has teamed up with award-winning Garden Designer Sean Murray to transform the grounds of a home in Northumberland.

Following the work, the 2.5-acre garden in Northumberland will be opened to the public as part of the National Garden Scheme.

The house has been renovated by its new owners over the last two years, who decided they also wanted to beautify the house’s outdoor space.

They turned to Sean, winner of the BBC RHS Great Chelsea Garden Challenge, to redesign the entire garden.

To add a further degree of complexity, the design needed to incorporate several existing mature trees and Feng Shui recommendations.

Garden Designer, Sean Murray said: “I was genuinely thrilled to be given complete creative control over such a large garden. It has been a pleasure to work with the owners to create what I hope is the garden of their dreams. Johnsons plants were all top-notch quality and their team were extremely professional and were keen to go the extra mile.”

The grounds now incorporate a rose garden, formal front garden, a Zen courtyard, pondside planting, island beds and a formal jewel garden, in addition to an orchard, tennis court with pavilion, a woodland garden and a kitchen garden complete with a reclaimed greenhouse.

Johnsons cash & carry division was asked to supply mature trees, hedges and winter flowering shrubs that offered year-round interest through leaves, stems, bark, fruits and flowers. Repetition of perennials across the garden brings a sense of cohesion and enhances the narrative between separate sections of the grounds.

The public will be given a glimpse of the garden next year when it opens for two days as part of the National Garden Scheme.

Luke Richardson, Cash & Carry Manager at Johnsons of Whixley said: “We are delighted to have been involved in this latest project along with the very talented Sean Murray and his team at Garden Narratives. Our supply has transformed the grounds of this stunning property that will be enjoyed by the owners and garden visitors for many years to come.”

This is one of many garden design projects we have got involved with in recent times, including a private garden in Dunsforth designed by Lizzie Tulip and a private parterre garden designed by Helen Taylor Garden Design in Ilkley.

By PhD student María de Carmen Redondo Bermúdez
Department of Landscape Architecture at The University of Sheffield | Grantham Scholar

The Department of Landscape Architecture at The University of Sheffield and Johnsons of Whixley are leading organisations in the landscape scene in the Yorkshire region and beyond. Johnsons have supported the Department in a number of ways: hosting student visits, and providing high-quality plants to staff to use in their landscape projects.

Being able to visit Johnsons and speak to staff behind the scenes at their facilities is hugely valuable for Landscape students, as it enables them to understand the ways in which plants of all types are grown and supplied to the profession, and provides insights into how to select and source plant material to meet the parameters of a particular project, which is a vitally important element of students’ learning and future practice. Moreover, plant specialists in the Department of Landscape Architecture have chosen Johnsons to supply many different types of plants for numerous projects.

A recent example is BREATHE, a PhD research project funded by the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures that entails the construction and evaluation of a green barrier around the playground of Hunter’s Bar Infant School in Sheffield, to improve the quality of the air that children breathe by mitigating airborne pollutants from road traffic. Johnsons of Whixley have supported the school in its #GoGoGreen Campaign, donating plants and discounting prices, helping the school to acquire the plants that will totally transform the children’s play environment. The nursery has helped other community initiatives in the past, showing strong corporate social responsibility that aligns with the vision of The University of Sheffield to improve the Sheffield City Region, one of the reasons why the Department of Landscape Architecture have invited them to collaborate in this amazing grassroots project.

PhD student María de Carmen Redondo Bermúdez with planting volunteers at Hunter’s Bar Infant School #GoGoGreen planting party

Other important factors influencing staff choice of Johnsons of Whixley as a primary supplier include the high quality of their plants, their initiatives for the recycling of plastic containers and their strict ISO standards (9001 for Quality Management and 14001 for Environmental Management).

Additionally, during the process of ordering plants for BREATHE we experienced the Johnsons of Whixley team as friendly, efficient and ethical, which really makes a positive difference when working with suppliers because it makes you feel supported and instils confidence and trust that they will deliver what has been agreed to a high standard. For example, the nursery team advised us on species selection, e.g. to ensure that the plant selection was child-friendly and to minimise the risk of any plant diseases developing. Their suggestions were always constructive and they were open to discussion to help us achieve the goals of the planting scheme. Also, as the #GoGoGreen Campaign intends to create environmental awareness of air pollution and related issues such as climate change, having Johnsons of Whixley so close to Sheffield helps reduce the carbon emissions and pollution that the Campaign tries to beat, especially because their vehicles conform to low emission standards.

Department of Landscape Architecture at The University of Sheffield webpage:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/landscape

#GoGoGreen Campaign:
http://bit.ly/HBIGoGoGreen

We are pleased to be helping people enjoy even happier holidays after supplying plants to a £1m transformation scheme at Hoburne Naish Holiday Park in Hampshire.

Included in the delivery were more than 2,000 shrubs, hedging plants, herbaceous plants and 21 varieties of grasses all worth a total of £22,000.

Situated on the clifftop with breath-taking sea views, the site combines the very best of coastline and countryside, from sandy beaches to picnics in the nearby New Forest.

The holiday park has recently undergone a significant refurbishment of its leisure and entertainment complex, with its family-friendly dining area and improved public spaces, and the design-led regions with comfortable seating options.

Attractions also include indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a sauna and on-site brasserie, along with adventure golf, a multi-sports games arena and play areas for children of all ages.

The park includes a new development of luxurious holiday homes, set in design-led landscaped areas and offering sea views across to the isle of Wight.

In total, Hoburne has spent £6m on giving each of its seven-holiday parks in the South West a facelift.

Mark Preston, Director of Hoburne Properties added “we have been delighted by both the quality of the stock and the level of service we have received from Johnsons, and the feedback from our holidaymakers and owners regarding their first impressions of the recently developed areas has been nothing but complimentary. We look forward to working with Johnsons on some exciting projects we have lined up for this coming winter across our parks”.  

We are delighted to have contributed a substantial number of plants to help revamp the Hoburne Naish holiday park. Holidays are a very special time for people, full of relaxation, and we hope we can play our part in ensuring visitors have a happy and memorable time amid glorious surroundings.

This is just one of many holiday parks we have supplied recently others we have supplied include the Sandymouth resort, Cheddar Woods resort and Canterbury Reach which are all part of the Darwin Escapes group

We recently teamed up with Evoke Landscape Design Ltd to create an outdoor learning area at Hightown Junior Infant & Nursery School, Liversedge.

The West Yorkshire based junior school already has an extensive allotment and orchard on the grounds as well as an area for rearing chickens and ducks; this helps encourage the children to engage with the outdoor environment.

The new area designed by Bradford landscape design business Evoke will further enhance the outdoor learning space and hopes to encourage wildlife. With 120 used tyres from a local garage were added to create a living retaining wall around the new area, the tyres have been filled with sensory plants from our Wholesale Xpress department; plant supply included Lavenders, Rosemary, Heathers, Thyme, Mint and a range of grasses and other herbaceous plants.

It was fantastic to team up with longstanding customer Evoke Landscape Design Ltd to enhance the outdoor learning area of Hightown Junior Infant & Nursery School, we hope the children and teachers enjoy this space for many years to come.

Headteacher at Hightown Junior Infant & Nursery School, Mr Russell Ingleby, said: “We are delighted with the work that Evoke Landscaping has completed in the school grounds. We are looking forward to seeing how the carefully chosen plants and shrubs add to the outdoor experience for years to come.”

This isn’t the only school project we have got onboard with recently, we are proud to be working on  a collaboration project between the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Sheffield and Hunter’s Bar Infant School, Sheffield. The #GoGoGreen campaign will see 100’s of our plants used to help improve the air quality of the school’s playground. You can find out more here – – – > #GoGoGreen

This year we have teamed up with SPA Landscaping to help Costco Wholesale Corporation petrol stations bloom throughout the UK.

Throughout 2019 Costco have been constructing new petrol stations at select locations across the UK. The construction of these sites has required a full-scale landscaping renovation from topsoil amelioration right through to tree and shrub planting.

Sheffield based SPA landscaping’s large in-house team carried out the works across a number of the sites and tasked us with the supply of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants.

Plant varieties supplied to the various Costco sites have included a large number of trees including Sorbus ‘Sheerwater seedling’, Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata’ and Tilia cordata ‘Greenspire’. 1000’s of shrubs were also supplied including Griselinia littoralis 10L, Hebe ‘Mrs Winder’ 5L, Vinca Major 2L, Viburnum tinus 2L, Hedera Hibernica 2L, Spirea ‘Anthony Waterer’, Escallonia rubra ‘Macrantha’, Carpinus betulus and Photinia ‘Red Robin’.

Before planting, SPA Landscaping used a rotavator to break up, churn and aerate the soil before providing a mulch finish. The benefits of doing such include conservation of soil moisture, improving fertility and health of the soil, reducing weed growth and enhancing the visual appeal of the area.

It’s been fantastic to work with SPA Landscaping to beautify the grounds of several Costco sites in the UK this year. Costco is one of the best-known names in trade retailing, with 770 shops worldwide, so it’s great to be associated with them and their latest petrol station constructions.

Alex Anthony, Director at SPA Landscaping, said “We pride ourselves on a high-quality finish to the job at hand, and when working with highly reputable companies such as Costco, we must ensure every aspect meets our standard. This is why we regularly work with Johnson’s of Whixley as their stock is second-to-none, and we know we trust an on-time site delivery.”  

We also teamed up with Spa Landscaping earlier in the year to supply plants to a healing garden at the Royal Derby Hospital, you can read all about it here —–>  Royal Derby Hospital supply 

Working with Gavin Jones Ltd to supply a new retail and leisure destination at Thorpe Park, Leeds.

We supplied nearly 20,000 plants worth more than £60,000 to transform the new leisure and retail complex at Thorpe Park, Leeds.

Thorpe Park is an extension to the existing retail site off Junction 46 of the M1. The park boasts a new shopping area, The Springs, featuring high street giants such as Next, Boots, TK Maxx and M&S Food as well as a cinema, gym and several high-end restaurants.

The adjacent country park has also benefited from our plants and trees, in a scheme design by Ares Landscape Architects Ltd that was installed by landscaping experts Gavin Jones Limited.

Further additions to the complex include a business and enterprise centre, sport and leisure hub and railway station, while 300 new homes will form a residential quarter.

Over 13,000 herbaceous plants were included in the supply, with over 1,500 Geraniums, 1,000 Persicaria Bistorta ‘Superba’, 2,000 Hemerocallis ‘Golden Chimes’ and over 1,000 Ajuga’s.

A further 7,000 shrubs, grasses and herb varieties were also provided for the 140-acres of parkland and public open spaces.

Gavin Jones Limited senior estimator Ricky Whiteman, said: “It has been great to see the progression of Thorpe Park, the site has really taken shape in the last year, we were appointed by GMI Construction to complete the soft landscaping package, we then called in leading commercial nursery Johnsons of Whixley to supply a large number of plants this really helped put the finishing touches to the scheme”

We have many years’ experience of providing plants to the retail and leisure sector. Recent supplies include the Leicester Costco site and the Spinningfields urban regeneration development in Manchester.

A new community of almost 1,000 concept apartments in the centre of Manchester will benefit from nearly 8,000 of our plants.

The Chapel Wharf development will see four towers between 12 and 22 storeys high created on the banks of the River Irwell, next to the five-star Lowry Hotel.

The one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments are mostly open plan with a private balcony or terrace and will be partially constructed off-site using the very latest manufacturing techniques.

Part of a significant regeneration of the Chapel Street area by developer Dandara, the scheme will also create public spaces, walkways and parking for almost 400 cars.

Working with Ashlea Ltd, we provided over 1,500 ferns and grasses, 3,000 herbaceous plants, over 3,000 shrubs and over 50 trees to help create a green oasis in the communal areas, with trees including Himalayan birch, Sorbus aucuparia (Rowan), Amelanchier lamarckii (Juneberry) and Betula pendula (Silver birch) all included in the order.

Wayne Dand, Contracts Director of Ashlea Limited, said “ We are delighted with the outcome of this project at Chapel Wharf. As always Johnsons Of Whixley have excelled themselves in working closely with us on the supply and delivery from start to finish. “

Herbaceous species include more than 600 Bergenia Silberlicht (elephant’s ears), 500 English lavender plants and almost 150 of the Johnsons Blue variety of geranium.

More than 700 of the evergreen shrub Euonymus Fortunei Emerald Gaiety’ along with hundreds of grasses and ferns were also provided.

Last Christmas, we supplied festive foliage to the nearby Spinningfields district, home to around 200 businesses, retailers such as Mulberry and high-end restaurants including The Ivy and Restaurant MCR. You can find out more about our supply here – – – – > Johnsons deliver Christmas trees to Spinningfields

We recently teamed up with p1 Contractors Ltd to supply over £150,000 worth of plants for a multi-million-pound Scottish conference/exhibition centre and largest new entertainment complex in Europe.

Replacing the Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre (AECC), The Event Complex Aberdeen (TECA) is a £330 million development that opened in August 2019; it includes a new arena, conference halls, a multi-purpose space, hotels and more.

The new arena will host acts such as Rod Stewart, Michael Buble, Lewis Capaldi and Elton John in the coming months; it is set to attract an additional 4.5 million visitors bringing £113m of extra spend to the Scottish economy.

Our supply included nearly 40,000 shrubs, 170 three-metre-wide hedera screens, over 30,000 bare-root transplants and more than 400 trees.

Linlithgow-based p1 was responsible for all the soft landscaping on the project, soiling all areas around the complex along with seeding works and tree, shrub and woodland planting around the site.

Ronnie Blair Contracts Manager for the project on behalf of p1 Contractors Ltd, added: “Having a company such as Johnsons of Whixley working with us on such a large-scale project has been very reassuring, Iain has taken the time to come up to Scotland and walk the site offering information on the planting to help me with the contract. With the opening of the new complex on the horizon, I am excited about the prospect of returning in a few years to see what it looks like with a bit of maturity something which should be in keeping with the ambitious company we are.

Other plant supply to Scotland includes Donaldsons, Edinburgh and the iconic Forth Road Bridge

We have recently been recruited by Brambledown Landscapes to provide a plant supply for the latest phase of a multi-million-pound project to revamp the historic Hirst Park in Northumberland.

Our plant supply, including both plants and trees, was worth £20,000 and was funded by a £2.29m Parks for People grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Project planting

Consisting of more than 50 trees worth £9,000, our plant supply also included a range of plants including 262 Stipa Tenufolia, 188 Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and 250 Sedum spectabile ‘Brilliant’, as well as a range of rhododendron varieties and 126 Persicaria ‘Darjeeling Red’.

The first stage of the Hirst Park project began in early 2018 with the removal of dead, dying and dangerous trees. The replacement trees were planted over the winter of 2018 to ensure minimum disruption during bird nesting and bat roosting seasons.

It is estimated that the project to transform Hirst Park, where legendary footballers Jackie Milburn and the Charlton brothers played as youngsters, will take five years to complete.

Landscaping work is being carried out by our client, Brambledown Landscape Services, and will include the creation of a formal garden, water play feature, horticultural training building where families can learn to grow their own vegetables and a New Food Circle, operated in partnership with Northumberland College.

Director of Brambledown Paul Curry said: “We have a wonderful relationship with Johnsons of Whixley, who have been supplying trees on our schemes for many decades. This prestigious multi-million-pound Heritage Lottery Fund Park at Hirst Park in Ashington, Northumberland is one of many large park improvement schemes we have carried out over the years alongside Johnsons.”

The future for Hirst Park

Once the scheme is complete, events will be held at the newly refurbished park to help people learn more about the heritage of Hirst park, the local area and the people in it.

We are really excited to be able to get involved in this project. Our products will bring life back to Hirst Park and ensure it is a place to be enjoyed for many years to come as it has been in the past.

We have worked with Brambledown on lots of other projects, including Haggerston Castle in Northumberland and the conservation area at Spinning Acres in Leeds.

We have recently supplied a range of plants and trees to an exclusive retirement village in the Cheshire village of Tattenhall, one of the UK’s most coveted postcodes.

The Gifford Lea retirement village will be enhanced by hundreds of top-quality plants and trees provided by our Wholesale Commercial department.

The landscaped gardens are one of the prime attractions of the select development of modern apartments, which also boasts an on-site spa, bistro and beauty salon.

Working with long-standing client and landscaping specialist Ashlea Limited, we supplied a variety of trees, shrubs, herbaceous and hedging plants.

The range of trees we supplied included five Acer campestre (field maple), Crataegus crus-galli (hawthorn), Carpinus betulus Frans Fontaine (hornbeam), four Prunus taihaku (great white cherry) and three Tilia cordata greenspire (small-leaved lime).

We also provided various species of geranium, in addition to more than 260 Hypericum ‘Hidcote’ and around 200 Sarcococca Winter Gem boxwood shrubs.

Hedging plants included 400 Fagus sylvatica (beech) whilst Digitalis purpurea (foxgloves), Bergenia silberlicht (elephant’s ears) and Siberian iris ‘white swirl’ were among the hundreds of herbaceous plants in the inventory.

We are delighted to have played our part in creating the stunning gardens for this sophisticated development in the desirable location of Tattenhall.

We have worked with Ashlea on many previous occasions and they know they can rely on Johnsons to fulfil their requirements for only the very highest standards of plants.

Bruce Tyrer, projects director of Ashlea Limited, added: “The quality of the planting scheme needed to reflect the quality of the buildings themselves, constructed by Seddon Construction Limited. This was the main reason why we chose Johnsons of Whixley to supply the trees and shrubs to this prestigious retirement complex – the plants have helped to transform the scheme.”

We have many years’ experience of supplying quality residential developments, take a look at our work with Spinning Acres as well as our award-winning supplies to Great Kneighton and Tadpole Garden Village.

Landscaping Project Introduction

Our Wholesale Commercial department has recently made the scenic journey from Whixley to the Scottish Highlands, to supply our latest project, The Torridon, a luxurious five-star hotel.

The plant supply, worth more than £5,000, formed part of the new ‘Arturcus’ Gin Garden at the award-winning luxury hotel where guests can relax and unwind while enjoying the Torridon’s own gin, ‘Artucus’. We supplied 460 Buxus Sempervirens (Box), that have been used for partitioning around the star-shaped pool and pergola, 1,500 herbaceous plants including Achillea, Alstroemeria, Crocosmia and Rudbeckia, and four Sorbus Aucuparia (Rowan) trees.

The Perfect Location

The hotel has a history of prestigious award wins including the Cateys Independent Hotel of the Year 2018, and has received five stars from both the AA and Visit Scotland.

The Torridon was built in 1860 as a hunting lodge for William King-Noel, the first Earl of Lovelace, all materials for the building – including the soil for the two-acre Kitchen Garden – were shipped in specially from Ireland.

Refurbs and Results

A century later, the lodge became a luxury hotel and today also includes the traditional Torridon Inn, as well as the Boat House, a self-cartering option. Current owners are Dan and Rohaise Rose-Bristow who have completed a full refurbishment including a revival of the Kitchen Garden, used by head chef Ross Stovold to create fresh and unique tastes for diners that can be complimented by the hotel’s very own ‘Arturcus’ gin.

“It’s wonderful to know our plants are making a difference in this stunning part of the world. Our drivers are already looking forward to the next scenic drive to the Torridon and we are really happy with the finished result. The gardens look beautiful and really compliment the stunning scenery of the Scottish Highlands. It’s the perfect place to unwind and enjoy a gin and tonic!”

This isn’t the first luxury hotel we have supplied, we recently worked with Grantley Hall on their restoration project, as well as supplying the new Dakota hotel in Manchester.

We recently worked on a project for the Dakota Hotel, a new luxury hotel in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, teaming up with PWP Design Ltd and Gavin Jones Ltd.

We supplied a range of plants to the hotel, including clipped evergreen shrubs, sculptural feature trees and lush green groundcover for a series of planting areas and pots that frame the terrace and enhance the parking courtyard, main entrance and overall impression of the hotel.

Our supply included hundreds of herbaceous, shrub and grass varieties for the hotel grounds, including Buxus spirals, Sarcococca confusa, Pachysandra ‘Green Carpet’ (to create attractive yet low maintenance ground cover), Agapanthus africanus, Viburnum davidii and Hakonechloa macra.

The Dakota Manchester is situated on Dulcie Street, at the edge of the vibrant Northern Quarter, and features 137 rooms, a Dakota Grill restaurant, cocktail bar, waterside terrace, cigar garden and a grand deluxe penthouse, believed to be the largest in the city.

A lot is happening in Manchester right now, especially in the Northern Quarter, so it’s fantastic to be supplying to this new project. It’s also great to be teaming up once again with Gavin Jones Ltd and PWP Design Ltd, both of whom are long-standing customers.

The collaboration of our businesses allowed us to achieve the luxurious and highly visual impact the client required for the hotel, delivering the quality and style that is associated with the Dakota brand.

This is not the first time we have worked on a luxury hotel, take a look at our recent project, supplying the stunning Grantley Hall near Ripon.

Our wholesale Xpress department recently supplied a selection of plants to enhance the hard landscaping of a sloping garden designed by LWB Landscapes in the Harrogate area.

LWB Landscapes proved that a garden doesn’t need to be flat and spacious to be beautiful, dealing with a steep slope requires imaginative thinking, and, adding stone terraced flower beds, Indian stone paving and Oak sleepers they have created a beautiful layered garden.

Using a simple mix of Buxus Sempervirens balls and cones, Lavender Hidcote, Convolvulus cneorum, Carex morrowii ‘Vanilla Ice’ and Pieris jap, we were able to bring the space to life, creating an enviable garden that will be loved for years to come.

See below for before and after shots of the garden

Before

After

This isn’t the only project our wholesale Xpress department has supplied in the Harrogate area; you can read about our supply to Grantley Hall here  and see how our plants helped celebrate Bowcliffe Hall’s Georgian splendour here .

We recently supplied a selection of Taxus topiary for Grade II listed Bowcliffe Hall, a historic Yorkshire venue that hosts weddings, corporate events and more. Guests can enjoy acres of glorious gardens designed to be perfectly in keeping with the hall’s Georgian heritage.

As part of a topiary project at the hall, we were asked to provide a selection of yew plants, to celebrate its character and history whilst enhancing the arrival experience for guests. Yew was chosen to complement the existing clipped topiary in the gardens.

An important consideration was the scale and proportion of the plants, to enable them to be seamlessly incorporated into the overall garden design, which includes both cone and standard (lollipop) shaped plants.

We supplied 10 cone-shaped  Taxus baccata (Yew) root balls and 13 Taxus baccata (Yew) lollipop standards with a 100cm stem and 70-80cm head.

In order to carefully maintain the plants, the garden team at Bowcliffe Hall has implemented an irrigation system and mulched their bases.

The plans form an integral part of a stunning front garden, a traditional Georgian design that wows guests on arrival while remaining true to the building’s rich heritage.

Scandinavian plant supply for Saltwell Park, Gateshead

We teamed up with the National Garden Scheme (NGS) Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Gateshead Council to provide a Scandinavian plant supply to Saltwell Park.

The Swedish inspired garden will open during the World Transplant Games in August, with the aim of attracting new visitors to the North East and promoting Gateshead to an international audience.

The Scandinavian garden design was created to mark 10 years of strong cultural and trade links between Sweden and the North East of England. Garden designer Susie White created a classic 18th century English garden in the Västra Götaland region of Sweden back in 2017, featuring iris, peony, roses, allium, lupin, foxgloves and sage.

Gateshead’s 55-acre Saltwell Park will feature a woodland, meadow area and elements of coastal landscape, with more than 600 new shrub and herbaceous varieties in addition to 11 trees. Our plants were also complemented with a supply of Swedish heritage plants to tie the theme together.

Maureen Kesteven, NGS County Organiser, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, said: “This unique international project has been a major endeavour for the NGS volunteer team in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. We are grateful for the assistance provided by our commercial sponsors. Being able to rely on Johnsons of Whixley for the bulk of the plants was a real confidence booster for us.”

It’s great to be involved with such an exciting project that connects the UK and Sweden. We were delighted when the National Garden Scheme got in touch and asked us to provide the plants and we hope the garden is enjoyed by many people for years to come.

In addition to Saltwell Park, we have worked on beautifying several parks across the UK to improve the space for the local communities. Our team recently partnered with Ashlea Ltd to enhance the new Gypsey Race Park in Bridlington [View case study here], a project partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

We are delighted to have recently completed two large plant supplies totalling more than £50,000 to two Darwin Escapes holiday developments in the south of England.

Situated in Kent – known as the Garden of England – Canterbury Reach Lodge Retreat offers holidaymakers luxurious lodges set within acres of rolling countryside. The resort enjoys a tranquil setting within easy reach of Canterbury town centre.

Our team were appointed to provided 260 trees and more than 9,000 bulbs, including snowdrops (Galanthus Nivalis) and bluebells (Hyacinthoides Non-Scripta), as well as more than 8,500 shrubs and herbaceous and 8,000 bare root hedging plants,  completed the supply, worth £27,000 in total.

The second of the two large plant supplies was worth £25,000 and used at the Darwin Escapes Cheddar Woods Resort and Spa in Somerset, where the extensive gardens were designed to reflect the beauty of the surrounding woodland.

The resort, nestling in the Mendip Hills, boasts an Enjoy England five-star gold rating and has been awarded the Certificate of Excellence by TripAdvisor. Discerning guests can enjoy spacious plots within this area of outstanding natural beauty.

Our supply comprised 75 trees including rowan (Sorbus Aucuparia), field maple (Acer Campestre) and silver birch (Betula Pendula) along with almost 10,000 bare root hedging transplants of hawthorn (Crataegus Monogyna), common hazel (Corylus Avellana), blackthorn (Prunus Spinosa) and sweet cherry (Prunus Avium).

Four thousand shrubs of various sizes, from 2L to 10L) were also provided, including 310 10L New Zealand broadleaf (Grisellina Littoralis).

We have built up many years’ experience of providing plants to clients in the holiday park sector, where another recent project undertaken for Darwin Escapes included an extensive supply of shrubs and hedging transplants for the award-winning Sandymouth Holiday Resort, as part of a substantial modernisation process.

We also teamed up with long-standing client RPS Group plc at the recently opened Darwin Escapes Norfolk Woods Resort and Spa in Norfolk to provide products worth £50,000 for the resort, including a variety of ornamental and native plant stock.

We are justifiably proud of completing the large plant supplies for Darwin Escapes. These resorts are noted for their luxury and high standards and we are delighted to contribute to this with our own high-quality trees and plants.

For more information on the resorts, please go to https://www.darwinescapes.co.uk/

Working alongside Sheffield-based Spa Landscaping, our team delivered a plant supply that was used to create a new healing garden at the Royal Derby Hospital.

Created to provide a calm and peaceful place for people to visit during their time on hospital grounds. The newly designed courtyard area was also sensitively landscaped to provide an area for people to plant a bulb in the memory of loved ones who sadly died at the hospital.

To create the serene healing garden through landscaping, our supply included a number of plants and trees to the value of £3,000, which included hedging transplants Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn), Acer Campestre (Field Maple) and Sorbus aucuparia (Rowan). To complement this, the supply also included different shrub varieties, including Escallonia ‘Donard Radiance’, Viburnum tinus and Acer campestre and Pyrus Chanticleer trees.

The garden was officially opened during Dying Matters Week by the chief executive of the hospital Trust, Gavin Boyle who also planted the first bulb. There will also be up to three special occasions throughout the year where the public will be able to plant a bulb in memory of their loved ones.

Mark Swift from Spa Landscaping said: “Naturally, we’re delighted to have been chosen to create such a wonderful and peaceful area for the hospital. It’s been a joy to witness this project blossom into life and we truly hope the area offers comfort to those who need it most.”

As always, it’s great to see the end result of projects we are involved with, especially when it has such a lovely meaning behind it. We hope the garden brings comfort to those who have lost loved ones for many years to come.

We are proud to have recently completed an impressive landscape plant supply to Grantley Hall, a new 5-star luxury hotel in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales that is set to open next month.

Grantley Hall, a grade II* listed property, has undergone a complete restoration that included the addition of a new large wing, housing 47 exquisite rooms and suites, a wedding and banqueting suite, private event spaces, a tranquil spa, ELITE luxury gym, 18m swimming pool and executive wellness space.

As part of this restoration, we were appointed to supply an impressive order of plants to restore the grounds to their former glory. Our plant supply included a number of large topiaries, including Fagus (Beech) domes and Buxus (Box) balls, as well as thousands of herbaceous, shrubs and grasses for decorational borders.

To complete the project there were several large hedging elements, including Hedera Hibernica (Ivy) screens that will be used to create partitions in the Hall’s gardens.

The Hall was built by the Norton family in the 1680s before it passed on to the Furness family who lived there at the turn of the 20^th century. Lady Jane Furness was a very keen gardener and was behind the creation of its ornamental Japanese gardens using rock from the nearby Brimham Rocks.

The Hall then passed to Sir William Aykroyd who hosted both Queen Mary and then Dame Vera Lynn who entertained convalescing troops in WW2. The current owner, Valerie Sykes, bought the property in 2015 with the vision of restoring the building and its landscape back to its original splendour by creating a unique wellness, dining and hotel experience in the North of England.

Working with Grantley Hall has been a real privilege, we have watched the project progress from its inception into something unique to the area. This will undoubtedly attract new discerning visitors to the North Yorkshire area, we are delighted to have played a small part in creating an inspirational first impression.

We recently teamed up with Ashlea Ltd to work with them on a new project to supply trees and shrubs to the new Windermere Jetty museum, home to some of the world’s oldest boats.

The museum was officially opened in April by the Prince of Wales and is home to more than 40 vessels including the SL Dolly, which is thought to be the oldest mechanically powered boat in the world, dugout boats dating from between 1200 and 1320 AD and the famous tarn boat used in Beatrix Potter’s sketches.

Housing boats both in and outside the building, a key element of the design incorporates spectacular views of Lake Windermere for visitors to enjoy.

From the stock grown on our Yorkshire nursery, we supplied 70 trees, from 10-12 girth size up to 14-16, a range of shrubs in P9, 1L and 2L sizes, and thousands of bareroot hedging transplants.

Including this supply, Ashlea Ltd’s work included planting locally collected wildflower seeds and bulbs.

It’s great to be included in another fantastic project with Ashlea Ltd where we have supplied a number of items to enhance the outside space of a local attraction.

One of the greatest things about our business is being able to lend our products and services to beautifying parks visited by the local community. We have worked with Ashlea Ltd over many years, and our team were given the opportunity to team up with them once again to enhance the new Gypsey Race park in Bridlington.

The work undertaken for Gypsey Race was partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Its location is an idyllic setting as it follows the banks of a stream that runs through the town centre of Bridlington, providing new walking and cycling routes, a play area and improved habitats for wildlife.

Our team supplied over 6,000 plants and 180 trees that have been grown on our nursery, including Ulmus ‘New Horizon’, Tilia cordata ‘Greenspire’, Prunus ‘avium Plena’ and Pinus sylvestris.

Managing Director Wayne Dand from Ashlea Ltd said: “We are delighted with the outcome of this project. As always Johnsons Of Whixley have excelled themselves in working closely with the construction team in supply and delivery.”

The project is an important part of the regeneration plans for Bridlington, where a second phase will introduce more woodland areas and see a revised transport plan in place for locals and those visiting the coastal town.

New signs will be fitted throughout the park celebrating the heritage of those who have worked and lived along the Gypsey Race, as well as providing information about the wildlife in the park.

It’s great to see our plants bring this new £5m park project to life for the community to enjoy for many years to come. This is one of many parks we have supplied plants to over recent years, with other notable projects including Saughton Park in Edinburgh, Brooke Park in Ireland and the Valley Gardens in Harrogate.

Industrial and commercial spaces aren’t known for their greenery, but over recent years we have been more involved in beautifying these somewhat sparse landscapes. We are very happy to have been involved in a landscape supply for Costco’s new warehouse site in Leicester to do just that.

Teaming up with Sheffield-based, Spa Landscaping Ltd, we were briefed to enhance the grounds of the new Costco site to make them more visually-pleasing, as well as improving the local environment.

Using over £9,000 worth of plants that have been grown on our nursery in the Vale of York, this landscape supply was designed to not only improve the attractiveness of the area but to help add some privacy with hedging.

To successfully achieve this, the plants chosen were 5L Carpinus Betulus and 10L Grisellina Littoralis to create a hedge border, complemented with a large number of shrubs and seven Tilia cordata ‘Greenspire’ rootball trees.

Alex Anthony, managing director of Spa Landscaping Ltd, said “For the past three years we have developed and maintained many sites for Costco across the UK. The professional finish and quick turnaround times we provide wouldn’t be possible without our trusted suppliers, which is why we work closely with the team at Johnsons of Whixley. We can trust that they will deliver quality stock, on time, this allows us to carry out our work with no hold ups.”

It is always a great experience for our team when working with Spa Landscaping, and it’s wonderful to see how our plants have been used to enhance a space such as this one.

www.spalandscaping.co.uk

We’re delighted to share the news that a project we have been involved with dedicated to mental health awareness has taken the top prize at this year’s Harrogate Flower Show.

Taking the Gold Award at this year’s show, the Mental Health Garden, designed by Jo Manfredi-Hamer Garden Design, was created using plants supplied from our nursery. The garden was created in support of Leeds Mind, the mental health charity which provides help and information when people need it most.

Jo was inspired to create the garden after seeing the impact of mental health issues on someone close to her and wanted to highlight the issues whilst communicating a message of positivity. The clever design was created to represent the different aspects of mental health. We worked closely with Jo to select and supply a number of trees and plants for the award-winning garden.

It featured different shades of pebbles to represent depression and improved mental health through counselling and support, with the focal point of the garden design being a semicolon, a symbol associated and worn by some mental health sufferers.

Other features of the mental health garden represented self-harm, strength and activities often chosen to combat mental health issues.

The garden includes Kernel, a design by the award-winning sculptor David Harber. A beautiful polished stone sphere, Kernel has a mirror-polished stainless steel wedge cut into it to reveal a shiny core of oxidised steel that represents inner strength.

We are absolutely delighted that this stunning garden has been awarded one of the top prizes at the prestigious Harrogate Flower Show. As a company, we are thrilled to have been able to add to the impact of Jo’s incredible design.

While awareness of mental health issues has improved in recent years, thanks to campaigns such as Time To Change, it’s vital that this remains in the spotlight so that people receive the help and support that they need, when they need it.

Transforming spaces for a live-action show must include a varied and detailed plant supply to guarantee an impactful experience for the audience.

A recently completed project saw our plant supply do just that, by bringing to life the myth and legend of the spectacular outdoor show of Kynren.

Over 7,000 hedging plants and trees were supplied, along with thousands of planting sundries, including varieties such as Field Maple, Silver Birch, Hawthorn, Beech and many other fringe species. The plants have been used to help in transforming the space for the show, which will be performed during the summer by a 1000-strong case in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

The producers of the show, Eleven Arches, had approached our team to fulfil its landscape plan with an order that would bring to life the story of Arthur, the son of a mining family, on his spellbinding journey through time on an enormous scale.

‘Kynren’ is the Anglo-Saxon word for generation – and organisers hoped that the show will bring together generations of families for years to come. Our chairman, John Richardson, had previously attended one of the Kynren shows last year and was in awe of how the space had been transformed to produce a fantastic show.

Looking to delight and dazzle the senses, Anna Warnecke, director of Cavalry and Estates, commented: “As Kynren grows and the site expands to include other attractions alongside the show, our aim is to provide a visually stunning visitor experience with an abundance of flora and fauna.

“Across the site we will feature many heritage plants, which will not only enhance our visitor experience, but also increase biodiversity value and create more habitats for wildlife.”

Although our team are experts at transforming spaces with plants, working with the UK’s leading outdoor live-action show has been an incredible experience in seeing how our products have been used. We are extremely proud to be able to add such quantities of native trees and shrubs to reinforce Kynren’s environmental credentials.

Fancy visiting this fantastic show? go to www.kynren.com to book your tickets today.

We teamed up with Edinburgh-based construction and maintenance firm P1 Contractors to supply thousands of plants for the landscaping of an iconic building originally known as Donaldson’s Hospital, Edinburgh.

Since starting the project in 2017, we have supplied over £125,000 worth of plants to date, with varieties including 5,000 rootball Buxus (Box) for formal parterres, over 400 Taxus (Yew) rootballs for formal hedging, 7,000 shrubs and herbaceous plants, 83 trees, including 42 which were pleached specimens, and a large number of topiary boxed balls.
The former Donaldson’s hospital site has been turned into luxury apartments with prices ranging from £250,000 to £1,625,000 making it one of the most expensive residential development in Scotland.

The A-listed building was formally built as a hospital for destitute and vulnerable children and was opened in 1850 by Queen Victoria who is reported to have said that the building was more impressive than many of her own palaces.

Residents of the new Donaldson’s development will enjoy 16-acres of private parkland which will include formal parterres, sweeping lawns and mature trees. Landscaping has also taken place in the chapel garden, morning and afternoon terrace, the park, the courtyard and parterre terrace.

This is another fantastic project to be involved with in partnership with P1 Contractors. We’re delighted to see building that has stood derelict for 10 years transformed into accommodation in keeping with its impressive history.

Richard McMonagle, Director of P1 Contractors Ltd, said: “Our client, City & Country place a lot emphasis on the landscape around their developments and this has been refreshing for us as a contractor. We are delighted to have been involved in this project which has seen us also secure the next three phases of the project for both hard and soft landscaping which gives us a long-term input.

“Given some of the apartments in the development are on the market for over £1 million, the quality of the landscaping and plants must reflect this, so we turned to Johnsons who have again played a key part in achieving this.”

Ellie Richardson, marketing co-ordinator at Johnsons of Whixley, said: “This is another fantastic project to be involved with via P1, a long-standing customer. It’s great to see a derelict building of 10 years be transformed into accommodation and in-keeping with its impressive history.”

We are helping transform a major trunk road linking the East and West Midlands.

Thousands of plants have been supplied for a new junction on the A50 in Staffordshire, created as part of a £40m regeneration project in Staffordshire. The Growth Corridor project is managed by Staffordshire County Council and aims to reduce congestion and improve safety.

Working with contractors ATM Ltd, we supplied 12,000 bare root hedging transplants, including native and non-native varieties. More than 7,000 Crataegus monogyna were included in this first phase of the landscaping, expected to be complete by autumn 2019.

Phase two will see more varieties being planted while the entire 80,000 square metre site will be grass seeded.

The A50 Growth Corridor project is funded by the Government and aims to reduce congestion, improve road safety, support local businesses and create jobs.

Ellie Richardson, Johnsons of Whixley’s marketing co-ordinator, said: “We are delighted to be part of this major landscaping project that will make journeys quicker, easier and safer in addition to benefitting local employers.

“The mix of varieties perfectly complements the scenery around the area and this scheme shows our ability to meet large orders and deadlines for our customers.”

Matt Harston, ATM Ltd Contracts Manager, Said: “ Its Great to see this site taking shape! Atm have been involved from the start with the initial De Vegetation of the site and all of the Fencing which is all for the Priciple Contractor, Tarmac Group. To have won the Landscaping and Maintenance contract direct for Staffordshire County Council is the icing on the cake as we get to put the finishing touches to the project. It’s been a great example of all the services that ATM Ltd can provide and the high standard of workmanship we deliver.

Our Wholesale Commercial team do like to be beside the seaside – especially when supplying plants for an award-winning holiday development close to the beach at Bude, Cornwall.

Over a period of six months, the team supplied plants worth more than £75,000 for Darwin Escapes’ Sandymouth Holiday Resort including 9,000 shrubs, 8,000 hedging transplants and hundreds of herbaceous plants.

Sandymouth Holiday Resort recently underwent a substantial modernisation process, resulting in facilities being extensively updated alongside the introduction of a Go Active programme offering family friendly activities.

The complex has won the Family Fun Cornwall category in the Hoseasons Annual Awards. It includes a choice of luxury holiday lodges and static caravans, an on-site restaurant, swimming pool and an outdoor gym.

We are proud to be associated with Darwin Escapes, a company which is noted for its luxurious surroundings and high standards.

Homepage

https://www.darwinescapes.co.uk/parks/sandymouth-holiday-resort/

We are delighted to have sponsored the trees and plants for a display dedicated to mental health awareness at this year’s Harrogate Flower Show.

The Mental Health Garden has been designed by Jo Manfredi-Hamer Garden Design and is proudly supporting Leeds Mind, the mental health charity which provides support and information when people need it most.

In addition to trees and plants, the 7.3m x 5.2m garden includes different shades of pebbles to represent depression and improved mental health through counselling and support.

A semicolon, sometimes worn by mental health sufferers, has been incorporated into the design, along with features to represent self-harm, strength and activities often chosen to combat mental health issues.

The garden also includes Kernel, a design by the award-winning sculptor David Harber. A beautiful polished stone sphere, Kernel has a mirror-polished stainless steel wedge cut into it to reveal a shiny core of oxidised steel, representing inner strength. Also involved in the garden’s creation are Marshalls and Stone Warehouse.

Among the plants we have supplied are carex oshimensis, stachys byzantine ‘Silver Carpet’, Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Valentine’, Myosotis sylvatica and Choisya ternata sundance. Several Skimmia × confusa Kew Green were included in the supply, along with Tiarella Sugar and Spice,

Helleborus x hybridus Pretty Ellen Red and four pleached trees.

Designer Jo was inspired to create the garden after seeing the impact of mental health issues on someone close to her and wanted to highlight the issues whilst communicating a message of positivity.

She said: “There is help available and, with help and support, people can learn to manage their mental health.”

Research shows that gardening can be extremely beneficial for people with mental health problems. It improves communication with others, teaches practical skills and enhances concentration.

Gardening is the ultimate feel-good pastime – it gets people out in the fresh air, it’s great exercise and it allows them to express their creativity – therefore it seems fitting that we support this project.

The Harrogate Flower Show runs from April 25-28, where the Mental Health Garden can be viewed, with garden construction commencing on April 15.

Our Wholesale Commercial team recently completed a project in supplying plants to Omega plc’s site at Capitol Park, Doncaster.

Working alongside one of our long-term customers, Ashlea Ltd, we supplied over 6,000 shrubs grown on our nursery; including over 600 2L Photinia ‘Red Robin’, 450 2L Euonymus ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’ and 200 2L Viburnum ‘Eve Price’.

Adding height and contrast to the project, the supply also included 16 trees with a girth size of 16-18 inches. Some of the varieties used were Betula pendula, Pyrus chanticleer, Liquidamber styraciflua and 10 MST Amelanchier lamarckii 125-150 size.

Omega plc’s 320,000 square foot warehouse is used by the company to produce high-quality fitted kitchens and furniture across the UK.

Yorkshire contract manager at Ashlea Ltd, Rob Brooks, said “Ashlea was awarded the soft Landscaping package by Tolent Construction for works to be carried out once Omega plc had moved into the new premises.

“This required us to complete a large amount of work in a short space of time with restricted access. Once again, Johnsons of Whixley was able to deliver on time, meet the specification and site requirements as well as maintaining a high standard of products.”

Our team are delighted with the outcome of Omega plc’s warehouse landscape. It’s always great to see large quantities of our shrubs going out the door. As always Ashlea Ltd has done a great job and we’re looking forward to working with them again on future projects.

We worked with client Brambledown Landscape Services to supply plants and trees for an exclusive £40m development within a secluded conservation area in Leeds.

Spinning Acres, at Far Headingley, has transformed the six-acre former Tetley Hall University of Leeds site. Originally, the area was a prime location for wealthy mill owners who built impressive villas within glorious landscaped grounds.

We worked with Brambledown Landscape Services and Smeeden Foreman Landscape Architects to supply four large trees and plants worth £5,000 for the first and second phases of this prestigious Spinning Acres development.

Brambledown installed high specification timber fencing and gates to all the gardens, turfed front and rear lawns and planted trees and shrubs around communal areas of the development.

Johnsons supplied a total of 1,250 shrubs for the project, including a mixture of 1L, 2L and 5L plants in addition to the trees.

Developers Pickard Properties will offer the properties for long-term rent. Phase one of the scheme includes a range of four-bedroom homes, an imposing five-bedroom semi-detached option and a two-bedroom converted stable, in individual designs.

Phase two is the transformation of the Cloth Halls into 31 one- and two-bedroom apartments, retaining the Victorian architecture and using Yorkshire stone.

A third phase is currently in the planning stages and involves the conversion of existing stone-built villas into private apartments. The final stage will see other building conversions as well as new-build accommodation, all of which will be available to rent.

We were delighted to be involved with this highly acclaimed scheme and to play our part in transforming the grounds of this development to their original splendor.

Nick Rogers, assistant contracts manager at Brambledown Landscape Services, added: “This has been an exciting project to be part of, working alongside Smeeden Foreman Landscape Architects, who have been involved with the development from its early stages. Brambledown are looking forward to continuing our relationship with Pickard Properties and Johnsons in the future.”

We have teamed up with local garden designer Lorna Batchelor to supply plants to a new sensory garden at the Henshaw Arts & Crafts Centre in Knaresborough.

The new sensory garden will create a safe place for students to learn and explore and includes nearly £4,000 worth of plants with scented varieties such as Sarcococca confusa, Hamamelis mollis and Viburnum bodnantense, grasses for sound and touch with varieties of Stipa, Carex and Phormium included. Around 60 Rhododendrons and Azaleas give a splash of colour in the woodland garden with Ferns and Acers creating a tranquil area around the new waterfall.

The waterfall was taken from Lorna’s Gold Award winning garden ‘Eden’ at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show 2018 and was put together by stone mason/ sculptor Jonny Clasper.

Henshaw’s is a northern charity supporting people living with sight loss and other disabilities for over 180 years, its college provides specialist education for its students, supported housing, community centres and an Arts & Craft Centre. The Arts & Crafts Centre was formerly Knaresborough Zoo. It is open for the public to enjoy and has extensive gardens, workshops and a café.

Eleanor Richardson, Marketing & sales coordinator at Johnsons of Whixley said: “It’s wonderful to be involved with a charity so close to home, working with our customer and local garden designer Lorna Batchelor to provide a garden that will really benefit the students at Henshaw’s for years to come”

Lorna not only provided the design but was hands-on with the planting too.

Lorna said “I have visited the Arts & Crafts Centre with my family for many years and it is a place close to my heart. It has been a joy to help redevelop the gardens for the people of Knaresborough to enjoy. Thank you, Johnsons, for all the lovely plants!”

The garden will re-open to the public on Mother’s Day (31st March)

Our Wholesale Commercial team worked with Darwin Escapes to supply plants for a new lodge and retreat, the Norfolk Woods Resort & Spa.

The new Norfolk complex, which opened in January, includes luxury self-catering lodges, many with their own private hot tub facilities, an on-site restaurant, tropically-heated swimming pool and an on-site spa.

We worked with leading multi-disciplinary consultancy firm RPS Group plc on creating a variety of environmental aspects for the project, including the landscaping planning and design, arboriculture and ecology.

We provided products worth over £50,000 to be planted at the resort, including a variety of ornamental and native plant stock, all container-grown to accommodate the park’s construction programme.

David Cox, associate landscape architect of RPS Group Plc, said: “We’re really pleased to see yet another Darwin Escapes scheme is coming together well. The quality of plant stock and efficiency of Johnsons has also been second-to-none.”

It was great to be involved with another Darwin Escapes project and to be working with RPS again. Another Darwin Escapes resort we worked on in 2016, Keswick Reach, won ‘Best Large Park in Britain’ in the 2017 Hoseasons Annual Awards and Norfolk Woods Resort & Spa is sure to be recognised for its luxury and high standards.

Want to find out more about Norfolk Woods Resort & Spa? visit www.darwinescapes.co.uk

Johnsons supply West Kensington memorial garden

Johnsons of Whixley were selected by The Landscape Group id verde to supply Gwendwr Gardens in West Kensington.

Gwendwr Gardens is a public garden that was built in memory of those killed in the Blitz.

We secured the contract, worth £13,000, following a competitive tender issued by Coventry-based The Landscape Group, part of the id verde Group.

id verde Group is the European market leader for the management, maintenance and construction of natural and urban landscapes.

As part of the renovation works, overgrown foliage was cut back to make way for the new planting scheme supplied by us, comprising of approximately 6,000 plants, mainly shrubs and herbaceous and of 44 different varieties.

The new planting complements the different growing conditions within the site and provides colour and interest throughout the year.

A sunken garden, which is the focal point at the centre of the park, has also been filled with colourful plants and native flowers in shaded areas to help boost biodiversity.

The garden first opened in 1949 after being gifted to what was then Fulham Council by the Gunter Estate and was built to remember residents from West Kensington who lost their lives in the Second World War bombings.

5 star planting scheme at luxury Lake District holiday resort

We recently won a large contract to supply a new, 5 star luxury holiday resort in the Lake District.

Landscape architect, RPS Group – one of the UK’s leading multi-disciplinary consultancies advising on all aspects of the built and natural environment – selected stock from our nursery including over 300 trees, 13,000 native hedging and woodland mixes and over 2,000 ornamental shrubs for the new holiday park.

Keswick Reach Lodge Retreat is set to be opened this winter by Darwin Escapes, which operates 16 holiday parks across the UK. Since purchasing the site, previously known as North Lakes Caravan Park, Darwin Escapes has been undertaking a complete redevelopment of the resort in order to create a market-leading holiday destination, which, as well as featuring a new restaurant, bar and outDavid Cox, Technical Director at RPS said:

“Darwin Escape’s new development at Keswick Reach has been carefully designed to provide a bespoke holiday experience. The planting designs use carefully selected plant and tree species which complement the local landscape and provide a high quality setting to the holiday park.

“We have a well-established, successful relationship with Johnsons of Whixley that has enabled a specific plant and tree stock list to be developed, with high quality stock checked at the nursery and delivered to site expediently.

“Johnsons’ flexibility, market knowledge and commercial attitude has aided the project landscape architects to positively achieve a fantastic naturalistic landscape setting,” he concludes.
Tony Coles, our amenity sales manager said:

“We have supplied holiday parks before, but never on this scale and were extremely delighted to be chosen as the preferred supplier by the RPS Group and Darwin contractors.

“The mix of trees, native hedging and woodland varieties, with ornamental shrubs, perfectly complement the natural scenery, hills and woodlands surrounding the new resort and the planting scheme truly shows what we have to offer in terms of quality stock and the ability to meet large orders and deadlines for our clients.”door activity centre also includes a new landscaping and planting scheme.

We’re celebrating 30 years of being in business with Wentworth Garden Centre

Over the years we have established relationships with clients from across a number of sectors through its amenities, garden centre sales and cash and carry services.

And our work with Wentworth Garden Centre, near Rotherham, is one such relationship with roots tracing back three decades.

We initially worked alongside one other in the Garden Centre’s first months as a business, providing high-quality stock at attractive rates.

The relationship has continued since then, and we recently supplied Yew (Taxus Baccata) to the Garden Centre as part of the renovation of their ‘Millennium Maze’.

Johnsons supply colour to Culzean Castle, Scotland

We’re working alongside The National Trust of Scotland to add vibrant colour to the newly re-modelled entrance to Culzean Castle, and the surrounding country park, on the Ayrshire coast.

The Castle, and the 600-acre park that surrounds it, is The Trust’s second most popular property and attracts more than 200,000 visitors a year.

P1 Contractors appointed Johnsons to the project to ensure the exacting specification was met or exceeded.

This included the supply of 150no multi-stem betula, specimen azaleas, instant hedging, 1300no rootballed taxus, specimen taxus balls, ranging from 30cm to two-metre diameter, and ground cover shrubs.

We’re working in conjunction with P1 Contractors. The total value of the contract is in excess of £70,000.

Johnsons win contract to Revive the Royal Edinburgh Hospital

We’ve secured a contract worth £122,000 to supply the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland.

The new planting scheme is part of a £48m revamp of the hospital, which cares for patients with mental health problems, after a new state-of-the-art facility was granted the go-ahead in 2014.

External work has so far included the removal of shrubbery, trees and other debris, the demolition of the Scottish Ambulance Service building, as well as the development of a therapeutic garden activity area.

A large landscape contractor selected Johnsons of Whixley to supply two phases of the project.

The initial phase, which we secured in November 2015, involved planting for the internal courtyards and the second phase, won in August 2016, was to supply the external planting areas, which is due for completion in April 2017.

In total, 280 specimen trees up to 25-30cm girth and 45,000 container shrubs are being delivered to the scheme, with over 70 different species.

Johnsons supply 12,000 plants to former Arla Foods site

We will be supplying more than 12,000 plants as part of the retail and leisure development on the former Arla Foods site in South Ruislip.

We were selected ahead of other bids following a competitive tender process and will supply a range of shrubs and herbaceous plants as part of the project.

The contract, agreed with landscape construction and maintenance company Whiting Landscape and landscape architects Macgregor Smith, is worth more than £30,000 and is our latest ‘contract grow’ project.

The development will include a new 11-screen cinema, family restaurants, a new Asda supermarket and petrol filling station, and create more than 530 new jobs.

Work commenced on site in October 2015 and it is anticipated that the facilities will be open to the public this summer.

Johnson of Whixley senior amenity sales manager Tony Coles said: “It is a privilege for Johnsons to be making such a significant contribution to a project that will not only revitalise the site, but also create new jobs and opportunities for local residents.

“Johnsons has a proven track record of meeting the demands of large, high-volume projects and delivering plants to a high-quality and at an attractive rate.

“We’re proud to be working alongside Whiting Landscape on this project, and eager to see the wider project unfold in the months ahead.”

Johnsons supply plants to ‘Best in show’ at the RHS Cardiff Flower Show

Johnsons of Whixley has congratulated Chris Myers on winning ‘Best in Show’ at the RHS Show Cardiff for his garden celebrating the mythical tale of ‘Bloudeuwedd’.

According to the myth, Blodeuwedd was a woman created from flowers, and the wife of the hero Lleu.

While her husband was away, Blodeuwedd fell in love with a neighbour and together they hatched a plan to kill Lleu while he bathed.

But Lleu thwarted death, and transformed into an eagle to flee, before returning to human form.

As punishment, Lleu turned Blodeuwedd into a tawny owl and she was banished to live a solitary life in the woods.

Elements from this magical story were represented in the garden.

Chris also received a Gold Medal in recognition of the high standard of his garden.

Johnsons is proud to have supplied plants to the award-winning garden, including ferns, ivy, blackthorn and oak.

RHS Cardiff was held at Bute Park in the heart of the city centre, and celebrated the best of springtime while encouraging visitors to learn and grow as gardeners.

Chris, who is best known as the presenter of Channel 4’s ‘Wild Things’, is a regular guest blogger on the Johnsons website.

Johnsons supply Spring Flower Show’s largest ever show garden

After supporting and supplying plants to the largest ever show garden at Harrogate Spring Flower Show, as part of a project being delivered in conjunction with Help For Heroes, we are proud to announce that the garden, named ‘A Homecoming Prayer’ won gold – taking top honours at the show.

Johnsons supplied plants including bamboos, grasses, acers, specimen conifers and trees, at a heavily subsidized rate as part of their sponsorship of the project.

The garden will now be relocated, in its entirety, to its final home at Dishforth Airfield, near Thirsk, where it will serve as a memorial space for the 6th Regiment Royal Logistics Corps, who recently returned to the UK from Germany.

There are plans to construct a new Cenotaph as part of the garden.

It is hoped that the garden will not only enhance the barracks, but also kick start wider gardening initiatives, including workshops for military wives and partners.

The garden is a collaborative effort, led by the 6th Royal Logistics Core, working with Help for Heroes, in support of wounded, injured and sick veterans around the country.

Members of the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) have helped to support the design and build of the show garden.

The project is also being sponsored by HESCO, a globally renowned manufacturer of defensive barriers used to protect military personnel overseas and to save homes and businesses from flooding.

Johnsons helps National Trust at Studley Royal restore its 18th c garden

We’re helping The National Trust at Studley Royal & Fountains Abbey near Ripon, North Yorkshire, to restore an important element of its 300-year-old Georgian garden.

Since 1983 we’ve been supplying specimen container grown hedging plants to the World Heritage Site to replace its yew ‘bosquet’ hedges which have become overgrown causing them to lose their formal appearance.

The work is part of a massive programme of works that has been taking place at the Studley Royal water garden. Since taking over the site from North Yorkshire CC in 1983, the estate has invested millions of pounds in its work to safeguard this unique garden which was designated a World Heritage Site in 1987.

A bosquet is a group or plantation of trees and shrubs, often planted in straight lines or geometric shapes; they can be but not always are surrounded by formal hedges (green walls) or paths of gravel.

Influenced by late 17th century French fashion for formality the garden makers at Studley Royal used bosquets throughout the water garden using English yew as their favoured hedging plant.
The current overgrown, and in some places dying yew ‘bosquet’ hedge which is just over 800 metres in length, will be removed from the garden in autumn/winter 2018 and replaced with specially selected 125cm specimen container plants, which will be planted in the garden in 2019.

The specimen container plants, which were planted in October 2016, are currently growing and being nurtured at our Newlands nursery, and have already started to take shape. At the end of April the plants were shaped and another trim will be undertaken later this year.

If required, stock may be transferred into air pots to stimulate root development and returned to our Thornville site.

Group director Graham Richardson from Johnsons of Whixley, said: “We’re delighted to be working again at Studley Royal & Fountains Abbey, and are excited to be helping to restore such a beautiful garden which has so much of Yorkshire’s history behind it.

“We have a long history of working closely with the National Trust and a proven track record of delivering to a precise specification that produces an effective result.

“Growing large hedges is a genuine horticultural challenge where attention to detail is critical throughout the process.”

Head of Landscape at Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal, Michael Ridsdale, said: “The yew bosquet is a key feature of the landscape here in the water garden. We’re pleased to be working with Johnsons of Whixley to grow new yew trees specifically for the project we have in mind, it means we can grow them to an appropriate size off-site before planting, which significantly reduces the impact of the work on the landscape.”

Johnsons help Maggie’s Centre garden blossom with plant supply

Our Wholesale Commercial team has supplied plants to a new garden, built in the grounds of Maggie’s Centre in Oldham.

Maggie’s Centre offers practical, emotional and social support for those with cancer, along with their family and friends.

The structure and space were designed by dRMM, under the guidance of garden designer Rupert Muldoon. It was planted by Wrights Landscapes.

The garden will provide a peaceful and beautiful setting for people with cancer, friends and family members to relax and reflect.

We supplied a selection of shade tolerate herbaceous, edible and screening plants.

Our area sales manager, Vicky Newell, said: “The garden truly is beautiful. It is arranged on three levels and features beautiful Betula pendula Szechuanica multi-stem, cocooned in a ceiling to floor undulating clear window. The tree lets in so much light to the building that it lifts your spirits as you enter.

“The majority is made from recycled materials and water from the roof is drained via a single rainwater pipe hovering above a water bowl, and the next level has an edible garden featuring fruit trees and culinary herbs. Underneath the building is a swath of shade tolerate plants and a disabled access walkway so patients can enjoy their environment.”

DRMM garden designer, Rupert Muldoon, said: “Maggie’s Centre in Oldham presented the opportunity to design an ornamental forest floor, which is lushly planted and flows below the sculptural birch and pine trees on a sloping, shaded site.

“My design was based upon mixes of plants species that would knit together and thrive alongside one other, resulting in a very intricate planting schedule of perennials and shrubs. And working alongside Johnsons, I was assured of the best quality plants, which are all British-grown on site.”

The establishment of Maggie’s Centres was inspired by the story of Maggie Keswick Jencks, who was told she had cancer in a hospital corridor, and vowed that no one else with cancer should be treated in that way.

This led to the first Maggie’s Centre being opened in Edinburgh in 1996, and since then 21 Centres have opened in the UK and abroad.

Johnsons supply plants to UK Remembrance Centre 

We have supplied tens of thousands of plants  to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

A total of 38,000 plants, including a mixture of shrubs and herbaceous varieties, were supplied to the project as part of a contract grow in partnership with Grace Landscapes and landscape architect Andy Webster of Fira.

Situated in Staffordshire, on the edge of the National Forest, the National Memorial Arboretum is the UK’s year-round centre of Remembrance.

The site’s maturing woodland landscape is home to more than 300 memorials, which commemorate fallen soldiers and members of the emergency services, alongside charity and civilian organisation tributes.

Johnsons of Whixley senior amenity sales manager Tony Coles said: “It was a privilege to be a part of such a prestigious and meaningful project, and help add an extra element of colour and beauty to an already picturesque setting.

“Whilst the contract has since concluded, it is always pleasing to see the results of our work at a later date. It’s a truly magnificent location and we feel enormous pride at having helped to enhance it further.”

Grace Landscapes head of estimating, Ricky Whiteman, said: “We were very proud to be awarded the soft landscaping package for such a prestigious and well-known site.

“We were pleased to be working alongside Johnsons of Whixley for the plant supply, having already developed a healthy relationship with the business over a number of years.”

Johnsons help kick-start Leeds City Council’s new nursery

Our Garden Centre Sales division has supplied approximately 64 trolleys worth of stock to The Arium in Leeds, a new City Council led initiative to provide horticultural support to all areas of Leeds.

The Arium is the name for the newly-opened Leeds Parks Plant Nursery, which will grow more than three million plants a year for the city’s parks, roundabouts, flower beds, school grounds and other locations across the city.

The new nursery opened for business on Thorner Lane in the Scarcroft area of the city on Saturday 7 October and has enjoyed excellent footfall and levels of interest during its open weeks of trade.
The Arium is open to members of the general public and facilities on site include a café, shop and outdoor children’s play area.

The products we’ve supplied include a broad selection from across our range.

Our garden centre sales manager, Mark Reynard, said: “The Garden Centre Sales side of our business has enjoyed a relationship spanning more than 10 years with Leeds City Council, while commercially the two parties have worked together for more than 40 years.

“It’s pleasing to be able to further enhance an already strong relationship by helping the Council kick-start their new project at The Arium. We wish them every success during their first year of trade, and look forward to working closely with them in the future.”

The Arium’s senior supervisor, Lee Cawood, said: “As a council, we’ve enjoyed an excellent relationship with Johnsons of Whixley for generations.

They’ve been a key supplier to our amenity projects for a number of those years, and we’re delighted to be partnering with them for The Arium.

“The level of service and the overall quality of product that we’ve received from Johnsons has been first class, and we look forward to further strengthening our relationship with the business in the years ahead.”

Johnsons help renovate York Cemetery with plant supply

We have helped renovate areas of York Cemetery, with the help of garden designer Lizzie Tulip.

Lizzie Tulip is a Chelsea Flower Show Medal winner, who has served as a trustee for the Cemetery for the last four years and helped shape the landscape of the 24-acre site.

As part of the latest project, we have supplied an order worth more than £2,000, including spectacular taxus beehive shapes, which have helped to enhance the formal Victorian section of the cemetery, and provide structural planting for the newly-named Hanley Avenue area.

An opening ceremony to mark the completion of the improvements was held on Sunday 26th November, attended by the trustees of the cemetery and invited guests.

Our Xpress office and administration supervisor, Ellie Richardson, said: “We we supply projects large and small across the UK and Europe, but local landmarks and beauty spots are equally as important to us.

“We’ve worked alongside Lizzie on many projects over the years, and it’s been great to link up with her once again to help further improve the wonderful landscape at York Cemetery.”

York Cemetery is a grade II listed landscape and one of only two privately owned Victorian cemeteries in the UK.

Founded in 1837, it now encompasses 24 acres and is administered by The York Cemetery Trust, with support of the Friends of York Cemetery.

The cemetery received a Gold Award in the Open Spaces Category of the RHS Yorkshire in Bloom Competition 2017.

We have completed a three year long project supplying plants to a Northumberland Holiday Park, supplying plants to two landscaping and construction companies as part of a major long-term project at Haggerston Castle.

The first phase of stock included native trees, hedging, ornamental and specimen shrubs which was supplied to Brambledown Landscapes Ltd in Durham, who undertook the initial landscaping, between Autumn 2013 and Spring 2015.

The 200-acre nursery then supplied various phases of stock to P1 Solutions from Edinburgh who undertook the second phase of landscaping between February 2016 and Spring 2017.

This included mature specimen trees, instant hedging, a large range of ornamental shrubs, grasses, heathers, and native structure planting.

Haggerston Castle Holiday Park is a caravan park which stands out from the crowd due to having a castle in the grounds. It is set around several lakes and is surrounded by beautiful scenery, as well as being close to beaches and castles.

Andrew Richardson, Joint Managing Director at Johnsons of Whixley, said: “We have a proven track record of supplying an excellent quality of products and services to businesses in the leisure industry and it was a pleasure to be a part of such a fantastic development at Haggerston Castle.

“Our current systems at Johnsons of Whixley contain over 45,000 stock variants which ensures that we can offer a solution for every scheme and budget.”

Andy Aitken, Operations Director at P1 Solutions, said: “P1 Solutions can confirm that Johnsons of Whixley have provided top quality plants and service on the two phases of work we have carried out at Haggerston Castle in 2016 and 2017.”

Johnsons supply ‘Best Large Park in Britain’

We’re proud to have supplied our stock to a holiday resort which has been awarded as the ‘Best Large Park in Britain 2017’.

We supplied 346 trees and 15,000 hedge, shrub and herbaceous plants to Keswick Reach Lodge Retreat in the Lake District, which has been named as the Best Large Park in Britain 2017 at the Hoseasons Best in Britain awards.

The prestigious awards recognise holiday parks and resorts from across the UK for their dedication to tourism and providing exceptional experiences.

Keswick Reach Lodge Retreat, which opened in December 2016, is set within a secluded area of the Lake District, surrounded by breath-taking mountains and lakes, making it ideal for people wanting a relaxing break.

Our amenity sales manager, Andrew Barker, said: “We’re thrilled that Keswick Reach Lodge Retreat has been awarded Best Large Park in Britain.

“At Johnsons of Whixley, we supply plants to landscape schemes throughout the UK. The Keswick Reach holiday lodges are set in such a beautiful location and it was a delight to supply our stock to such an idyllic setting. Our current systems contain over 45,000 stock variants ensuring that we offer a solution for every scheme and budget.

“Huge congratulations to everyone involved at the Retreat, what a fantastic first year for the team!”

Johnsons help restore Harrogate’s grade II listed Valley Gardens

We have supplied more than £3,000 worth of plants as part of the ongoing Heritage lottery funded restoration of Harrogate’s grade II listed Valley Gardens.

The horticultural nursery, which is based equidistant between York and Harrogate, has supplied products including evergreen azaleas, ferns, camellias and rhododendrons for work on the restoration of the 1930’s Japanese Garden.

In addition to the planting the garden’s stream has been drained and desilted, additional footpaths and entrance archways have been created and three new bridges have been constructed, as part of the area’s transformation.

The order has been fulfilled by the Johnsons Xpress arm of the business, which operates alongside thriving commercial and garden centre sales divisions.

Johnsons of Whixley Plant Centre manager Robert Richardson, said: “Following a series of recent projects in North Yorkshire, we’re proud to once again have played a small role in helping transform a local green space.

“We were very pleased to be given the opportunity to contribute to the restoration of the gardens, particularly considering the sympathetic and considered approach to both design and planting being taken by the friends of Valley Gardens, Harrogate Borough Council and the Japanese garden society.

“We now look forward to seeing the rest of the redevelopment unfold, and the garden mature in the months ahead.”

Johnsons Xpress is the trade only cash and carry arm of Johnsons of Whixley, one of the longest established and largest commercial nurseries in Europe.
Xpress’s customers include landscape gardeners, garden designers, tree surgeons, estates, caravan parks and universities.

Johnsons supply plants to Manchester Airport link road

We have supplied a range of trees, plants and grasses as part of the construction of a new £15m link road at Manchester Airport.

The products were supplied to the new Enterprise Way at Airport City North throughout the month of November, in partnership with landscapers Blue Wigwam.

The range supplied includes large single and multi-stem trees, ground cover flowering plants and low maintenance grasses.

The construction of the new link road, which is a part of Airport City North at Manchester Airport, marks a major milestone that will help underpin future development, including the creation of offices, advanced manufacturing units and new hotel beds, creating a total of 11,400 new jobs.

Enterprise Way will connect new development plots to the rest of the landmark site and the wider transport network.

Our senior amenity sales manager, Tony Coles, said: “The development at Airport City North is truly exciting, and it’s been a privilege to provide products to Enterprise Way section of the wider project.

“Working with our partners at Blue Wigwam, we have delivered to an exacting specification and deadline.”

Blue Wigwam director, Richard Hughes, said: “I have worked with Johnsons for the last 17 years, and in the last year they have given me support and a quality of service and product that I can’t get from other tree nurseries.

“I believe that my loyalties lie with Johnsons of Whixley, and for a good reason – they look after me and my company.”

Johnsons supply Glasgow Fort Shopping Centre

We have completed the supply of a range of more than 20 varieties of shrubs and herbaceous plants to a landscape upgrade scheme at the Glasgow Fort Shopping Centre.

Following a competitive tender process, we secured the five-figure contract to supply more than 7,500 plants in partnership with commercial landscapers Grace Landscapes, based in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.

Our work on the 5.6 ha site helped to earn Grace Landscapes an award in the Soft Landscaping (£300k to £1.5m) category at the recent BALI Awards.

As part of an ambitious upgrade scheme, we worked alongside other partners, including property developer British Land and Landscape Architect McGregor Smith and main contractor McLoughlin Harvey to create a new identity for the facility.

The landscape strategy was combined with a public art initiative to create a setting that reflects the character of the local area, including the surrounding Scottish woodlands, while encouraging visitors to spend time in the external, green spaces.

Our senior amenity sales manager, Tony Coles, said: “We were delighted to land this contract in April of last year, and have since relished the opportunity to provide our usual high level of service and product quality to help upgrade the Glasgow Fort facility.

“It’s great to see the work commended by BALI, and we look forward to maintaining and further strengthening our relationship with Grace Landscapes, and our other partners in the commercial sector, during the next 12 months.”

Grace Landscapes North East regional manager, Darren Hardman, said: “The landscaping on this high-profile development has been well received by both the Centre Management Team and the public.

“It brings a different experience to the development, combining soft play for the younger members of the family, and a place to relax for parents.

“Grace Landscapes and Johnsons of Whixley liaised very closely on the scheme, from procurement of the plant material to specific timed deliveries, and Johnsons were always on hand to provide appropriate and helpful advice.”

Macgregor Smith director, Rupert Grierson, said: “Macgregor Smith has been working on Glasgow Fort for a number of years, and highlighted at an early stage in the project the requirement for high quality plant material as part of delivering the client’s vision.

“We are pleased to see that the quality of the plant material and installation has come together well and look forward to seeing new spring growth in 2018.”

Johnsons help Restore Terry’s Factory to its former glory

We have supplied a range of trees and shrubs totalling £20,000 to a recently-completed residential development on an iconic site in York.

The work is part of the conversion of the Grade 11 listed Terry’s Factory. The art deco building, which will be known as The Residence, first opened in 1926 and was the home of famous brands including Terry’s Chocolate Orange and All Gold Chocolates.

The factory closed in 2005 and it fell into serious disrepair in the years that followed, which resulted in the building being officially declared ‘at-risk’ by English Heritage.

The building has since been purchased by Henry Boot Developments, who have converted it into 170 apartments across five floors.

We have supplied 40 mature trees and 2,000 shrubs as part of the wider development, equating to the majority of the plants on site.

Our amenity sales manager, Andrew Barker, said: “The new development at The Terry’s Factory looks fantastic, and it’s been a pleasure to work alongside developers Henry Boot and David Wilson, alongside Bob Gascoyne Landscape Seeding, on the project.

“We have an excellent track record in the house building and residential development sector, and take particular pride in the quality of our products, the level of service and our ability to meet tight deadlines.”

The luxury apartments and penthouses at The Terry’s Factory will range in price from £194,950 to £649,950, and the building will feature a landscaped boulevard, boutique-style lobby and concierge desk. The total cost of the development is £38m.

Donating plants to two award winning Harrogate Flower Show gardens

We have donated £600 worth of plants to two gold award winning gardens at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show.

We donated £300 worth of plants to the charity Horticap’s ‘All Characters Great & Small’ show garden, and £300 worth of shrubs and herbaceous plants to Yorkshire Garden Designs for its ‘Eden’ show garden.

Horticap is based in Bluecoat Wood Nurseries in Harrogate and provides adults with learning and other disabilities training in horticulture, allied crafts and rural skills.

Its garden, handcrafted by students and staff, is inspired by iconic Yorkshire landmarks and is brought to life with well-known characters from across the region including Olympic gold medallist boxer, Nicola Adams, and cricket commentator, Geoffrey Boycott.

A combination of season perennials, shrubs and trees have been used to create the patriotic garden.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire Garden Designs’ show garden is inspired by the Garden of Eden and aims to represent a perfectly balanced eco-system.

Yorkshire Garden Designs worked with Yorkshire stone mason Johnny Clasper and Wetherby-based Aquascapes & Landscaping who used flowing freeform walling to create stone streams complete with water sprouts to represent the four biblical rivers.

The design also incorporates flowers, fruits and edible herbs, along with insect friendly and aquatic plants.

The garden will find a permanent home after the show at Henshaw’s Arts & Crafts Centre in Knaresborough.

We have a long standing relationship with both Horticap and Yorkshire Garden Designs. Students at Horticap have regular visits to the nursery and we have been supplying plants to Yorkshire Garden Designs for ten years.

Ellie Richardson, of Johnsons of Whixley, said: “We have an excellent relationship with Horticap and Yorkshire Garden Designs so we were excited to donate plants to their show gardens at this year’s Harrogate Spring Flower Show.

“The gardens they have created are fantastic and show lots of skill and creativity. We’re looking forward to our continued work with the designers and can’t wait to see what gardens they create in the future.”

Lorna Batchelor, owner and garden designer at Yorkshire Garden Designs said: “The biggest part of putting together a successful show garden is finding the right people for the job, the right materials, the right suppliers and getting everything in the right place at the right time. Johnsons of Whixley never disappoint!”

Phil Airey, assistant manager at Horticap, said: “Our show garden at the Harrogate Flower Show went really well, we’d like to thank Johnsons of Whixley for all of their support.”

Johnsons support York Cares ‘Big Community Challenge’

We recently offered support to this year’s York Cares initiative that aims to improve outdoor spaces at various local community organisations.

Johnsons of Whixley staff members Ellie Richardson, Corrina Mills, Vicky Newell, Darren Fawbert and Chairman John Richardson, volunteered their time and expertise to support this year’s Big Community Challenge, organised by York Cares, which aims to showcase the positive impact a green environment can have on health, wellbeing and social inclusion.

York Cares is a partnership of the city’s leading employers committed to making the city a better place through employee-volunteering.

This year’s activities included growing and caring for plants, while improving York’s green spaces to benefit different communities in the city, including older people and adults with learning disabilities at Gale Farm Court Independent Living Community; young people experiencing acute mental health issues at Mill Lodge NHS Community Unit, and patients, staff and visitors that use Clarence Gardens at York Hospital.

The Johnsons team of volunteers helped improve the outside space at Mill Lodge, a mental health community unit for 12-18-year olds. The morning involved unloading the plants they supplied, digging and creating stepping stones in the garden, whilst other volunteers made raised beds for vegetables and sensory plants, removing weeds and old plants.

Johnsons of Whixley’s Ellie Richardson said: “This is our second volunteering project with York Cares. It’s great to offer our support and help a local charity by not only offering volunteers but donating plants to help improve the outside spaces too. We had a mixture of staff attend from Johnsons including our Chairman John Richardson, who at 80 was just as involved in digging and weeding as the younger ones.

“As workers within the horticultural industry, we’re very much aware of the positive impact a green environment can have on those who use it, and we were pleased to lend our time and knowledge to the project, as part of a fantastic team from a range of backgrounds.”

Johnsons help beautify Exhibition Square as part of Bloom Festival

Johnsons of Whixley has loaned £5,000 worth of plants to the upcoming Bloom Festival, to help beautify York’s Exhibition Square.

The plants were delivered on the morning of the 4 July, ahead of the Festival, which runs between 5 and 7 July, and celebrates York’s rich and varied horticultural heritage.

The jam-packed programme includes the involvement of more than 70 regional businesses and more than 100 fringe events, connecting horticulture with art, music, literature, cinematography, gastronomy and science.

The brain child of Make It York, the festival is supported by York Business Improvement District and dozens of local businesses and organisations.

Johnsons of Whixley’s Ellie Richardson said: “Johnsons has a growing track record of supporting local initiatives and an event of this nature is obviously something we jumped at the chance to be involved with.

“We’re pleased to supply a range of plants to assist with the projects and we look forward to seeing the results, and enjoying the rest of the Festival, in the days ahead.”

Managing director of Making it York, Steve Brown, said: “Inspired by the unique Ancient Society of York Florists, we’re bringing together green-fingered people, creatively-minded individuals and businesses to create a festival which will celebrate York’s horticultural heritage and the equally vibrant activity taking place within the city today.”

Johnsons of Whixley supply garden display for global coffee brand

We have worked with a promotional equipment specialist to deliver a UK pop-up brand promotion for a world-renowned coffee brand.

We supplied over £7,000 worth of plants and materials including ginkgo and bay trees, grasses, bamboo, shrubs, ferns, Ivy screens and ivy on canes, to a pop-up garden in Manchester to promote the coffee brand, which operates cafes and sells its products in shops worldwide.

The project is being delivered in conjunction with DHB Group that provides a full range of bespoke, quality and mobile promotional equipment solutions to blue chip clients in the UK and throughout Europe.

The garden features hanging chairs and a decorative birdcage alongside the greenery to create “an oasis to pause and rest “and is open to the public for 12 days on Wednesday 8th August at St. Ann’s Square, Manchester.

The display will also feature an insight into the history of coffee, from its legendary origins in 9th century Ethiopia, plus information on how people can support the brand’s charitable initiatives.
Johnsons of Whixley’s Ellie Richardson said: “For close to 100 years, Johnsons has established working relationships with companies large and small across many sectors in the UK and beyond, and we value each of them. However, it’s rare to be given an opportunity to work on a horticultural project for a true world-renowned brand.

“It was also great to get properly ‘hands on’ with the project – from quoting, to helping plant, to seeing the final finished garden in Manchester. It’s rare we have the opportunity to be involved in a project so comprehensively, from start to finish, but it’s a challenge the business has relished.”

Plants good enough for Alan Titchmarsh

We recently donated over £500 worth of plants to ITV’s Love Your Garden.

Plants included Lavenders, Geraniums, Alchemilla, grasses and many more varieties.

The team transformed Jim Cowlings’ garden in the Yorkshire Dales into a personal retreat for him and his family. Jim was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 57, and went through lots of trail therapy, he now campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of regular check-ups.

This is the third round of donations we have made to Alan and his team at ITV’s Love Your Garden this year with a following two to DIY SOS.

Johnsons get green fingered for Greenfields community garden

Staff from horticultural nursery Johnsons of Whixley got stuck in with their third volunteering project with York Cares on Thursday, 18th October.

York Cares is a partnership of the city’s leading employers committed to improving outdoor spaces at various community organisations across the city through employee-volunteering.

The project included renovating part of the Greenfields community garden on Haxby road which included cutting back brambles, pruning fruit bushes, pulling up weeds and turning compost.
The garden is heavily used by residents, scouts and the local primary school.

The five volunteers from Johnsons of Whixley included Ellie Richardson, Laura Holmes, Claire Horner, Darren Fawbert and Jim Christmas, they joined forces with Lend a Lease – a leading international property and infrastructure group.

Steven Graham, Community Liaison Manager at Lend a Lease, said: “It’s great to get out the office and give something back to our local community, especially when two businesses can come together and really make a positive impact to a volunteer-run charity. We hope to continue to support Greenfields for many years to come.”

Volunteer and Marketing co-ordinator, Ellie Richardson from Johnsons of Whixley, said: “This is the third project we have got involved with for York Cares, it’s great to give something back to the local community and make a visible difference.”

Johnsons helps keep village’s mining heritage alive with plant supply

We have supplied more than £5,000 worth of plants to help renovate a local community garden.

1,000 plants, including shrubs, grasses and trees, were planted by a team of volunteers in Pegswood, Northumberland, on the grounds at the junction of Front Street and Longhirst Road.

The garden, which has been designed in collaboration with award-winning garden designer Sean Murray of Garden Narratives, and contractors PH Partnership, reflects the mining and brickworks heritage of the village.

The design includes 24 oak sleepers, reflecting the 24 fathoms depth of the first coal shaft that was sunk in the village, and the themed flowers will include iris coal seams and canary bird roses.

A retaining wall uses rubble from a number of old buildings in the village and there will be as many Pegswood bricks within the garden as possible.

Funding for the project was secured from numerous sources by Pegswood Parish Council.

Johnsons of Whixley’s Ellie Richardson said: “Johnsons has a proud history of supporting community projects in our community and beyond, and we’re proud to have been able to support the construction of a new community garden.

“We value the history and heritage of our own village, so it’s pleasing to be able to help another village pay homage to theirs.”

Pegswood Parish Council chairman, Paul Williams, said: “This is a project that we’ve been talking about for some time now.

“This community garden is intended to inform people of our history, while providing a great focal point for residents today and into the future.”

Johnsons of Whixley is a family-run horticultural nursery with roots tracing back almost 100 years. The business is today recognized as one of Europe’s largest commercial suppliers.

Plant donation for ITV Love Your Home and Garden

Earlier on in the year we teamed up with the Love Your Home and Garden team to supply a number of plants to the value of over £600.

The supply was for a single mum and her severely disabled son in Mansfield. Josh is 16 and the equipment he needs to support him and enable his mum, Benita, to move him around was getting so big that he was confined to one room in the house.

The project included not only an indoor renovation to help add some much needed open space, but a complete outdoor makeover too.

The plant donation included Helleborus, Heucheras, vincas, ceanothus trellis and a number of other shrubs and herbaceous varieties.

We donated 55 different plant lines and made the 72-mile trip to deliver the plants.

We hope Benita and Josh get to enjoy their newly renovated home and garden for many years to come.

Johnsons work with P1 Contractors Ltd to supply Saughton Park, Edinburgh

We have been working with P1 Contractors Ltd to supply plants for the restoration of Saughton Park, Edinburgh.

The £6.7 million renovation project began back in July 2017 and included the restoration of the walled garden, winter garden – including the winter glasshouse – and the restoration of the 110-year-old bandstand and garden.

Further redevelopment of the seven acre garden included:
• A brand new café
• The redevelopment of a rose garden with pergolas, and a seating area
• A new playground which is wheelchair-friendly and includes a train, bird’s nest climbing tower and lots more exciting play equipment
• Newly restored paths which include LED lighting
• A new car park
• A new entrance
• An outdoor gym
• A roller hockey and basketball court
• A new courtyard where the former stables have been turned into the parks offices
• New toilets including ones suitable for people with learning and physical disabilities

Edinburgh-based p1 has been responsible for the majority of the planned works including all the soft landscaping, landscape conservation, refurbishment of the winter garden and bandstand, the refurbishment of paths, benches, lighting, gym, car park and signage.

Richard McMonagle, Director of P1 Contractors Ltd, said: “We are delighted with the outcome of this project, it hasn’t been an easy task by any means with over 1,000 plant varieties on the order. Johnsons has excelled itself in only having to offer minimal substitutes from the original specifications and sourcing a lot of stock that we don’t normally see on our usual day to day schemes.”

Johnson’s contract to p1 was worth over £100,000. The plant supply was split over five different areas of the garden and included 70 pleached Carpinus, 90 trees over 16-18 girth size, 11 MST Betulas and over 5000 hedging plants.

The rose garden supply was worth over £40,000 and included eight thousand herbaceous plants, shrubs and roses. The bandstand renovation saw over 5,000 plants which included a mixture of shrubs and herbaceous with the white border including over 3,000 plants that included varieties like 400, Hakonechloa macra, 175 Helleborus ‘Silver Lace’ and 210 Brunnera ‘Mr Morse’.

The herbaceous border also saw over 6,000 plants used including over 350 Allium purple sensation, another 700 shrubs and herbaceous plants were used in the Italian garden also.

Ellie Richardson, Marketing & Sales Coordinator at Johnsons of Whixley, said: “It’s great to be involved with a full renovation of a well-known Scottish park with a long-standing customer. The supply has been ongoing for over a year so it’s great to see the finished result that includes so many different lines.”

Johnsons work with Ashlea Ltd to supply A21 Tonbridge

We were selected by Ashlea Ltd in February 2017 to supply thousands of bare root hedging and trees to the new Tonbridge dual carriageway, Kent.

This was part of the two-year, £70 million project which set to create a new dual carriageway to follow the line of the existing A21.

The new dual carriageway follows the line of the existing A21 with a new junction at Fairthorne (by the petrol station) and at Longfield Road, replacing the existing roundabout at the southern end of the scheme. Parts of the existing A21 were retained to provide access to houses, businesses, fields and woodland. A new bridleway for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders was provided along the whole length of the scheme.

Planting and earth mounds were provided to ensure that existing residence would not be affected by the noise of the new dual carriageway.

Plant varieties included over 40,000 native and non-native hedging and a selection of trees and shrubs.

Green-tech also supplied the following:
• 20,000 x 1.2m standard plus tree shelters 80-120mm dia
• 20,000 x 1.2m x 32mm square fsc tree stakes
• 2,000 x 60cm Acorn treeguards for shrubs 170-200mm dia with stakes
• 2,500 x bags of tree planting compost
• 10,000 x spirals (60cm x 38mm) and canes (90cm)

Johnsons of Whixley marketing co-ordinator, Ellie Richardson, said: “This was another great project with Ashlea Ltd. We have been involved with lots of roadside planting schemes over the years so it was great to supply another well-known carriageway, we cant wait to see it mature over the next few years.

Green-tech sales manager, Andrea Questari, said: “We were delighted to be involved with Ashlea Ltd on this project. Ashlea Ltd are very well known within the industry for their landscaping on the UK’s highways. Wayne Dand and his team managed this sensitive site very well which made our job a lot easier logistically.”

Johnsons Supply Dream Wedding Venue in the Yorkshire Dales

We have been supporting Ray Skelton (Harrogate) Ltd in the supply or Trees & Shrubs to assist in the creation of a new outdoor space linked with the renovation of an original and historic ‘Tithe Barn’ at a prestigious Yorkshire Estate.

The Grade II listed, newly-renovated barn is set within the grounds of the Duke of Devonshire’s majestic Bolton Abbey Estate in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. Built in the 1500s, the Tithe Barn overlooks the priory ruins and the River Wharfe and is set to create a unique wedding venue which could be described as the most romantic and complete venue of its kind in the region.

The barn still holds a lot of its original features including its timber beams from the 1500s. The barn can host up to 400 guests and the build has included a new access road off the B6160 and a car park for guests.

The developers, Cripps Barn Group, aimed to make the barn one of the largest, spectacular and most prestigious spaces in which to get married and the results speak for themselves.
Ray Skelton (Harrogate) Ltd, one of the largest horticultural service providers in North Yorkshire carried out the ground works which included ground preparation and grading, seeding, turfing , shrub, herbaceous and tree planting to specification.

Colin Simpson, senior estimator at Ray Skelton (Harrogate) Ltd, said: “It has been such a privilege for us to be associated with the renovation of Tithe Barn. I can see the beautifully landscaped gardens and magnificent views being on many Wedding photographs for years to come.

Johnsons’ supply was worth over £19,000 and included 78 trees all above 12-14 girth size, 13 pleached Quercus Ilex (Holly/Holm Oak) which are situated around the edge of the garden and over 3,000 shrubs/herbaceous varieties for its borders.

Andrew Barker, Amenity sales rep at Johnsons, said: “It is wonderful to be involved in projects like this where the planting really finishes the project. Hopefully It will provide a backdrop for some fantastic wedding pictures. As always great working with true professional contractors such as the team at Ray Skelton Horticulture”

Ellie Richardson, marketing co-ordinator at Johnsons, said: “It’s fantastic to have been involved in the transformation of Tithe Barn, we have supplied the Bolton Abbey Estate for many years so it’s lovely to be able to supply another high profile part of the estate. As always Ray Skelton (Harrogate) Ltd has done a wonderful job of the outdoor space and the barn itself is truly spectacular.”

Johnsons supply exciting new 5-star lodge and spa retreat

Johnsons of Whixley has been working with Darwin Escapes to supply plants to its newest lodge and spa retreat, Norfolk Woods Resort & Spa.

The new Norfolk complex will open in January 2019 and will be bringing Darwin Escapes’ luxury accommodation and high standards of service to the region for the first time. Norfolk Woods is just one of Darwin’s 22 parks and as the newest park in the portfolio, it is one not to be missed.

The resort will include luxury self-catering lodges, many with their own private hot tub facilities, an onsite restaurant, a tropically-heated swimming pool and an on-site spa.
One of the UK’s leading multi-disciplinary consultancies, RPS, has been advising on a variety of environmental aspects of the project, including the landscape planning/design, arboriculture and ecology.

David Cox, of RPS, said: “we’re really pleased to see that yet another Darwin Escapes scheme is coming together well; the quality of plant stock and efficiency of Johnsons is second to none”
Over £50,000 worth of plants have been planted at the new resort, including a variety of ornamental and native plant stock, all container grown to accommodate the park’s construction programme.

Ellie Richardson, marketing co-ordinator at Johnsons of Whixley, said: “It’s great to be involved with another Darwin Escapes project and to be working with RPS again.
“Back in 2016, another Darwin Escapes resort, Keswick Reach, won “Best Large Park in Britain” at the 2017 Hoseasons Annual Awards and it was great to be associated with this. I’m sure Norfolk Woods Resort & Spa will undoubtedly be recognised for its luxury and high standard.”

Andrew Barker, amenity sales rep at Johnsons of Whixley, said: “Really happy to be working on yet another Darwin site. It is tremendous working with the project management team on such high spec and impressive sites”

Johnsons Supply banking at Whinfell Forest Center Parcs

We have been selected by Ashlea Ltd to supply over 250 10L shrubs to restore the waterfall banking at Center Parcs Whinfell Forest in Penrith.

Whinfell Forest offers short breaks on the edge of the stunning Lake District National Park and includes indoor and outdoor activities. It even has its own onsite pub, restaurants and shops and is a sanctuary for the endangered red squirrel.

Ashlea’s works included the clearance of the Rhododendron banking, a new design and the planting of over 250 10L shrubs.

Varieties included Pinus mugo, Euonymus fort. ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’, Cotinus cogg. ‘Royal Purple’, Polystichum setiferum, Choisya ternata ‘Sundance’, Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ and lots of other varieties.

Johnsons of Whixley’s marketing co-ordinator, Ellie Richardson, said: This isn’t the first project we have been involved with where we have supplied Center Parcs through Ashlea Ltd so it’s great to supply another, especially with mature 10L varieties that will make an impact straight away.”

Johnsons supply large domestic garden via Lizzie Tulip an award winning garden designer. 

We have been working with Lizzie Tulip Garden Design to supply plants to a local large domestic garden, Lizzie Tulip Garden Design is a specialist design consultancy renowned for creating beautiful, stylish gardens. Based in Yorkshire, they work on projects of all sizes, locations and for public and private clients.

Johnsons’ plant supply was worth over £25,000 and included a full garden renovation which included over 80 buxus balls in various sizes, pleached carpinus trees, over 200 root ball Taxus for hedging, Taxus beehives and 1000’s of herbaceous and shrubs.

Lizzie Tulip designed the gardens in North Yorkshire as a series of spaces to be enhanced by the beautiful context of the surrounding landscape and to make the most of the views out to the Vale of York.

The Front Garden and Cloister Garden provide a warm welcome to visitors, with a unique circular step linking the two gardens gracefully together. A tall Cercideiphyllum japoincum tree bridges the height of the house and in autumn the fallen foliage fills the air with the heady scent of bunt sugar.

As you venture into the garden, four formally planted Viburnum carlcephalum and a row of pleached Carpinus betulus trees frame views into the white garden and formal lawns. Through the understory of the pleaching is the central Grass Border planted with ordered structure of Buxus semperviren balls, surrounded by tall swaying grasses such as Miscanthus and Molinia varieties together with spires of Salvia and Veronicastrum.

A new loggia provides a prestigious backdrop to the formal lawns where long perennial borders, both sun and shade loving, flank the main lawn.
From the main lawns you can enjoy a walk onto the North Lawn to take in views of the surrounding fields, set within the backdrop of the informal annual and wildflower border, or visit the Pool Garden with its sunny borders of cordoned fruit trees, cloud pruned Buxus and Wisteria covered pergola.

You can also venture onto the Upper Terrace where a ‘double lavender walk’ draws you toward the seating area for views out to the White Horse. A formal pond, set within the lawn and framed with pillars of Taxus baccata, offers reflections of the sky during the day and a lit fountain to enjoy at night.

A journey to the back of the Loggia, through a bespoke domed ‘Hornbeam Arbour’ takes you from the more formal parts of the garden to the lush and exotic Stumpery. Here a stream flows down to a pond, with a series of small bridges along the way.

Ellie Richardson, marketing co-ordinator for Johnsons of Whixley, said: “It’s been fantastic working with Lizzie on this for the past couple of years, it’s great to see the garden coming to life now as everything has matured, a truly beautiful design by Lizzie Tulip.”

Johnsons supply BALI award winning inner-city development

Johnsons of Whixley teamed up with award-winning landscaping firm, Kingston Landscape Group, to supply Colindale Gardens – a substantial inner-city re-development by Redrow Homes worth £1 billion located in the heart of North West London.

The BALI award winning Colindale Gardens will see over 2,900 new homes with a mixture of one, two, three and four-bedroom homes surrounded by nine acres of space, the new London neighbourhood includes cycle paths, walkways landscaping, cafes, restaurants and its very own resident-only gym.

Located in London, Colindale Gardens has excellent public transport links into the centre of the capital. Redrow has invested £11 million in the Colindale Underground Station and Northern Line to support the new development.

Collindale has not only received a BALI Award for category Soft Landscaping Construction (Non-Domestic) – cost between £300k-£1.5m it has now been shortlisted for not one but two APL awards in the soft landscaping and commercial garden category.

Abigail Evans Director of Kingston Landscape Group said “Redrow required us to complete a large amount of work in a short space of time. To enable us to achieve this, it was paramount that plant deliveries arrived on time, were true to spec and the correct numbers. Johnson’s delivered on this, which contributed to the overall success of the contract along with the organisation and strong team work between KLG and Redrow on site.

Johnsons of Whixley’s contract to Kingston Landscapes started in late 2017 and was worth over £90,000. It included over 5,000 herbaceous plants, nearly 7,000 shrubs including 2L, 5L and 10L plants, over 900 hedging plants and some instant hedging.

Senior Amenity Sales Manager, Tony Coles said: “We were delighted to get this contract and have since been able to secure the supply of more plants for Colindale. We relished the opportunity to provide a high level of service and product quality for this scheme. It was particularly pleasing to hear that the project has been commended by BALI, and that it will be showcased at the BALI Awards in Dec. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with Kingston Landscape Group over the coming months and years.”

Johnsons supply Glasgow Riverside Campus via Ashlea Ltd

To celebrate National Tree Week (24th November to 2nd December), we look back at the supply of a number of trees to Glasgow Riverside Campus via customer Ashlea Ltd in 2016.

Glasgow Riverside Campus, situated at the edge of a major crossing at the River Clyde, won 12 architectural and design awards and was shortlisted for architecture’s most prestigious accolade, the RIBA Stirling Prize.

Ashlea Ltd carried out the groundworks at the campus back in 2016 and our plant supply included 14 large MST Betulas, thousands of Vinca’s, hundreds of Ferns and a large number of other mixed shrubs.

Ellie Richardson, marketing co-ordinator for Johnsons of Whixley, said: “It’s great to look back at projects where our trees and plants have beautified inner-city areas, it was another great project to be involved with Ashlea Ltd on.”

Johnsons deliver Christmas trees to Spinningfields

We have teamed up with award-winning landscaping firm, Ground Control Ltd, to supply and install Christmas trees to Spinningfields, Manchester.

Spinningfields is one of Europe’s most successful urban regeneration projects. Home to over 165 world class financial and commercial service organisations, Spinningfields is a vibrant destination with luxury international fashion brands, bars and restaurants, such as Mulberry, Tattu and The Ivy.

Johnsons supply of Christmas trees to Spinningfields via Ground Control Ltd, included 50 Picea Omorika (commonly known as Serbian spruce) – a medium-sized evergreen tree frequently used at Christmas due to its striking crown.

These trees were a beautiful addition to Hardman Square and were installed prior to The Ivy’s launch on 27 November. Ellie Richardson, the marketing coordinator for Johnsons of Whixley, said: “It’s fantastic to be associated with such an exciting city-centre estate as well as to be working with a long-standing customer, Ground Control Ltd. “

Ground Control Ltd’s construction manager, Steven Yates, said: “ Ground Control are very pleased to have carried out the hard and soft landscaping on Hardman Square Furthermore the trees supplied by Johnsons beautifully compliment Spinningfields’ iconic Pavillion – Manchester’s largest timber-frame building, which hosts The Ivy.

Johnsons work with Whiting Landscape Ltd to supply plants to £100 million infrastructure.

We have teamed up with Whiting Landscape Ltd to supply plants to East Midlands Gateway Logistics Park, a £100 million infrastructure by SEGRO and Roxhill.

With up to 6,000,000 sq. Ft. of logistics accommodation. The development also includes a 50-acre Strategic Rail Freight Interchange that is capable of handling 775m of freight trains.
East Midlands Gateway is positioned in a prime location adjacent to East Midlands Airport with direct access to the M1 and J24. The freight line will provide a direct line to major ports, the channel tunnel and other UK/air freight interchanges.

Whiting Landscape Ltd’s works included semi-mature and extra heavy standard tree planting; ornamental shrub planting; forestry planting; turfing and seeding.

Kevin Jarvis, buyer at Whiting Landscape Ltd, said: “The supply of shrub and forestry stock for this project was placed with Johnsons because we were confident that the quality would be good and that they could meet the demanding call-off schedule required to get stock to site on time.”

Johnsons’ plant supply included over 13,000 2-3L in size shrubs and over 20,000 bare root transplants which were mixed and non-native.

Senior Amenity sales manager at Johnsons of Whixley, Tony Coles, said: “It was great to be chosen by Whiting Landscape Ltd to provide the plants for this £100 million infrastructure, working with Whiting Landscape Ltd we have been able to supply and meet deadlines, it’s great to see it coming together”

Johnsons supply two award-winning developments via Plant Style Ltd

We are proud to have supplied plants to two award-winning developments via Plant Style Ltd called ‘Great Kneighton, Trumpington, Cambridge’ and Tadpole Garden Village, Swindon, Wiltshire’.

‘Great Kneighton, Trumpington, Cambridge’ by Countryside Properties.

The Cambridge development, by Countryside Properties, also saw the firm win a gold award in the ‘Best Public Realm’ category at the prestigious What House Awards 2018.
The development includes 120 acres of country parkland, lakes and green spaces and includes a bird reserve, woodlands, allotments and over 14,000 new trees which were planted in the community.

Plant Style Ltd was contracted to complete the landscaping which saw Johnsons supply £50,000 worth of plants such as more than 9,000 shrubs – including over 1,000 10L Buxus sempervirens and over 300 Skimmia ‘Rubella 5L’ and specimen trees.

Tadpole Garden Village, by Crest Nicholson Strategic Projects

Meanwhile, Tadpole Garden Village, by Crest Nicholson Strategic Projects, was awarded a silver in the ‘Best Public Realm’ category at the What House Awards 2018. Its grounds include a mature woodland, ponds, hedgerows and a 100- acre park which is committed to encouraging wildlife.

Plant Style Ltd carried out the landscaping for this project too which included over £90,000 of Johnsons’ plants from 2015-2018. Varieties included nearly 150 trees over 20-25 girth size, 80 large mixed native hedging units and over 12,000 shrubs and grasses.

Plant Style Ltd’s managing director, Colin McDowell, said: “Working with Johnsons to deliver these projects was an easy choice as they have proven to be one of our most reliable suppliers. The awards are great recognition for all involved and we congratulate Countryside Properties and Crest Nicholson on their success. “

Ellie Richardson, marketing co-ordinator for Johnsons of Whixley, added: “We are extremely proud to be associated with not only Plant Style Ltd but the prestigious What House Awards 2018. A huge congratulations must go to both developers and Plant Style Ltd who carried out the landscape works.”