Returning to the Great Yorkshire Showground as last year’s Premier Gold winner, J Paxman Landscapes are readying themselves for another show garden at Harrogate Spring Show 2026. This year’s design has been created by FDA Landscape, fellow Huddersfield-based landscape architects. The soft landscape team will be representing the Association of Professional Landscapers who will be assisting in proceedings and available during the Show. The Show itself takes place from 23-26 April 2026 – but the preparation and build plan begins months before.

Common Ground – Small Urban Garden

“Common Ground” – Small Urban Garden

This year’s garden is called Common Ground. As one of four APL small urban Feature Gardens, the creation will be a shared outdoor space to bring people together, diverse and inclusive for age, background and social values.

In 5 metre by 4 metre plots, each feature garden will have a solid base and fencing on two sides – the rest is in the designer and contractors hands.

Intended to be adaptable and replicable, Common Ground responds to the need for generous, shared spaces within densely urbanised environments. It aims to create a place where growing, making, and sitting together can create connection and a sense of belonging.

Designed as a single, enclosed garden room, the space is organised around shared activity. Modular planters of varying heights form a sculptural boundary and productive edge where people can grow plants together. The integrated seating envelops a central fire bowl, encouraging time to pause, hold a conversation and gather your thoughts. The surrounding oak bench anchors the garden, reinforcing the idea of a place shaped by its visitors, holding space to relax, meet and congregate.

Reused and low impact materials

The use of recycled, reusable and sustainable materials is central to the design. Reclaimed timber will form a simple gateway, headlining the garden. Recycled plastic planters from British Recycled Plastic will form the modular seating and planter areas. Both demountable elements will ensure the garden can easily be relocated and reassembled after the Show.

The planting

With multi-stemmed trees, ground cover shrubs and flowering herbaceous plants alongside the grasses and ferns of the woodland glade area, the garden will feature vegetable and herbs in planters, grown by friends of the Show garden team on their own allotments.

Community contribution

Embedded within the fabric of the garden is a real sense of community. The rendered walls will feature inset hand-painted pebbles featuring handiwork from our local community and schoolchildren. The mural backdrop will proclaim “TOGETHER” as its over-arching message, nestled amongst Matisse-like floral flourishes, designed and painted by Serena Rogers.

The collaborative mural draws its inspiration directly from Project Colt mill’s location surrounded by resilient wildflowers and vegetation that climb the industrial stone walls and line the towpaths. Serena uses these plants as a metaphor for the human spirit.

“The vegetation surrounding the mill doesn’t wait for permission to grow; it finds and makes its own way through. Our members at Project Colt are doing the same.” – Serena Rogers, artist

Serena is a mixed media artist and collaborator with the Project Colt, a community hub based in Elland, near Halifax. Founded in 2013, Project Colt is an inclusive community space, welcoming all through its mill doors, supporting small businesses and encouraging support and opportunities for those who need it.

> Common Ground: Concept and Planting List

Visitors to the show will have the chance to add their own hand-painted pebble to the garden too – remembering a loved one, marking a memory or just letting their creativity shine!

After the Show

The garden itself will be transported and reimagined into a community outdoor space on behalf of Project Colt.

The Plan and Build

As designer and contractor work in unison, fine-tuning the planting plan, selecting and tagging trees, checking plants on the nursery, the build itself will begin in earnest in the week prior to judging and the Show’s gates opening. For now, the team are in the throes of sourcing materials, finalising palettes and preparing the build schedule for next month.

Sponsors and Collaborators

• Association of Professional Landscapers
• FDA Landscape
• British Recycled Plastic
• JTD Building Supplies, Holmfirth
• Freddie Mcguire, Woodturner