Horticulturalist who idolised Shrewsbury's famous Percy Thrower wins £1,000 worth of plants

Neil MacWilliam won the prize from Love Plants, based at the Salop Leisure site off the Emstrey roundabout in Shrewsbury.

Neil, aged 64, and his wife Sasha moved to a four-bedroomed home at Hadnall, near Shrewsbury, in May and are now planning the layout of the large garden.

A qualified horticulturist who ran garden centres across the UK for more than 40 years until his retirement, Neil registered as a Friend of Love Plants. Everyone who registered by the end of September was entered into the prize draw before he was selected from 8,500 Friends of Love Plants.

Neil said: “I already know what I want to do with my garden and I have lots of plants that I want to get. I am also planning to treat my daughter who has recently moved house. The added bonus is that I have a year to spend the money, which will allow me to buy seasonal plants.”

Neil, who qualified at the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley, Surrey, was introduced to gardening by his grandad and grew up idolising Shropshire’s famous horticulturist Percy Thrower, whom he once met at RHS Wisley.

Tim Robinson, manager of Love Plants, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Neil won the prize and it could not have gone to a nicer person, somebody from the profession who certainly knows his plants.

“We were delighted with the huge response to the competition and our new website is already generating a lot of extra business. In fact, we have been much busier than usual since the competition and website were launched.”