About Us
Moorland Nurseries and Garden Centre, located between Knaresborough and Harrogate on Forest Moor Road, is a family owned and operated business which began in 1947 and is now operated by the third and fourth generations of the family.
What do we do?​
We aim to supply only top quality plants, many of which we grow ourselves. We also buy a range of plants from carefully selected nurseries to provide a wide choice for our customers to choose from.
We stock a wide range of garden sundries which change according to the season.
At Christmas, we sell a wide selection of decorations and both artificial Christmas trees and real trees undercover in the nursery glasshouses.
Our Christmas feature is always popular and raises money for local charities.
Our History
In 1947, the grandparents of the present owners of Moorland Nurseries
and Garden Centre purchased the present site at an auction sale. The site
then was just grass fields with some old small farm buildings.
The second world war was not long finished and materials were in short
supply and some were indeed “ rationed”.
The first glasshouse was made from secondhand materials, and, once up,
plant production began.
A mixed range of crops were grown at first just to provide some cash.
The then owners, Maurice and Joan Wilson, began to produce
chrysanthemum plants and flowers and this developed into a very
successful business. The flowers were sold to many florist shops in
Harrogate,York and Leeds. There was great demand for the young
chrysanthemum plants and these were propagated and sold to many
areas of the country being sent by the (then extensive) rail network.
Due to the great interest in chrysanthemum production, Maurice Wilson
was much in demand to give lectures in various parts of the country.
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In 1962, a hurricane hit the area and most of the glasshouses were destroyed. These were replaced by secondhand glasshouses to get plant production started again.
In the 1970s, the next generation joined the family business and an acre of new aluminium glasshouse replaced the older structures. The heating and ventilation was controlled by computer and this all gave much improved conditions for plant production.
Flower shops in town centres began to give way to out of town Garden
Centres which meant less demand for the cut flowers and so, production
began of all-year-round pot chrysanthemums and bedding plants for sale
to the new Garden Centres. These were sold throughout the north of
England and even to Scotland.
Retail sales direct to the customer were always available and, as this side
of the business expanded, the Garden Centre was created at the front of
the nursery. The nursery was adapted to grow the plants which were
required for sale at the Garden Centre.
Development of the Garden Centre has now included The Lime Tree Café, Harrogate Aquatic and Richard Griffith Houseplants.
The present owner-operators are the third generation of the family and the fourth generation is now involved.
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