The world's oldest horticultural society hosts its 258th summer show featuring competitive categories for flowers, fruit, vegetables, handicrafts, photography, and art.
The Ancient Society of York Florists are holding their 258th Summer Show at Wigginton Recreation Hall on Saturday 11 July. It's a proper community competition, the kind of thing that brings together a huge cross-section of the city's gardeners and makers under one roof for a single day.
The horticultural side is where the society's name comes from, and it's a broad spread. There are categories for fuchsias, pelargoniums and geraniums — run with the help of The Pelargonium & Geranium Society — alongside roses, sweet peas, annuals, perennials, herbaceous plants, carnations and pinks, pot plants, cacti and succulents, and dedicated hosta classes. It doesn't stop at flowers, either; vegetables and fruit get their own space, and floral art is in the mix too.
What makes it more than just a flower show is how much else is on the tables. There are classes for baking, handicraft, photography, art, and specific categories for children, so it's not just for the seasoned growers. A good number of trophies are handed out across the board, including the Digby Frank Cup, the Elizabeth Byworth Memorial Trophy, the Ultraprint Trophy, the Wyevale Garden Centres Trophy, Miss Stobbs' Cup, the R. Merrick for best pot begonia, the Mike Windass Memorial Trophy, the Alyson Silver Trophy, the Trendal Memorial Trophy, and the Pamela Inns Memorial Trophy. Many of those are memorial awards, which points to the long line of people who've kept this going over the years.
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That's the thing about the Ancient Society of York Florists — they're recognised as the world's oldest horticultural society, and this is their 258th summer show. It's a tradition that's been running in York for centuries, and the range of categories shows it's still a big, open event. The show takes place on Saturday 11 July at Wigginton Recreation Hall.
