Shrewsbury has secured four accolades at the Heart of England in Bloom Awards, winning the Mike Garwood Memorial Trophy for outstanding horticultural achievement at The Dingle, the RHS Gold award, Small City category winner and lastly the Overall Winner for the Heart of England in Bloom region.

Shrewsbury is celebrating an outstanding four-award success at the Heart of England in Bloom Awards, with the town recognised for its horticultural excellence, environmental work and community spirit.

The results were announced at the awards ceremony at Malvern’s Three Counties Showground earlier today (Thursday 22 October).

The Mike Garwood Memorial Trophy is a discretionary award recognising outstanding horticultural achievement. The Dingle secured the trophy for the second consecutive year, following judges’ praise last year for its move towards more sustainable planting, including the introduction of palm trees into its flower beds.

This year’s judging tour followed a significantly revised route, giving regional judges the opportunity to discover different parts of Shrewsbury and see more of the work taking place across the town. Highlights included Column Allotments, named Aldi’s Community Allotment of the Year in 2025, and Riverside Gardens, where judges were able to see the progress of the landscaping works while the site was still being developed. Following the completion of landscaping works by Morgan Sindall, Shrewsbury Town Council’s horticultural team is now preparing to plant the gardens over the coming month.

The tour also showcased the breadth of work taking place across Shrewsbury, including Shrewsbury Town Council’s Weeping Cross Nursery, where more than 330,000 plants are grown each year. Judges also saw the work of the Council’s new street cleaning team, which helps maintain the town’s streets and public spaces, alongside the established Stepping Up team, which has successfully opened up footpaths in communities across the town.

Shrewsbury’s overall regional win secures the town’s place as the Heart of England in Bloom region’s representative at the Britain in Bloom awards in 2027, giving it another opportunity to showcase its horticultural excellence, environmental work and community spirit on the national stage.