Langlands came into being when my father returned from India, where he served in the Second World War and got a job as gardener/handyman/chauffeur with a Mr Andréa who was a mill owner in Bingley.
Walter Ducker was a born grower and soon developed a reputation for his Dahlias, which he grew in a small nursery at Mr Andréa’s house, which just happened to be called “Langlands”.
In 1955 Mr Andrea retired and offered Dad the nursery business, stock, pots the lot and Langlands moved over the road, to a new site which was sold for building in the early 1960s.
In 1964 the business moved over to the current site, which was then a smallholding, on the quiet road between Market Weighton and York.
At this time the name Langlands was getting known throughout the north of England through the growing and showing of Chrysanthemums, Fuchsias and Dahlias. Preparing for the shows was a huge undertaking, with plants that needed to be grown specially to at their prime for each show. However we soon started to collect a host of gold medals, and were able to start selling some of our plants for 2/6 to 3/6 which was a small fortune in those days!
At this time my brother Robert and I were on the road in our little blue vans constantly, building stands at shows, and delivering cut flowers to markets, and that is how it would have stayed if fate had not intervened. In 1990 there was a very late June frost, which killed a lot of our stock, and so we took action and decided to concentrate on the retail side of the business and the covered area, which we recently rebuilt and expanded.
At that time the junior management team arrived on the scene fresh from college, Ian and James have become the third generation of Duckers to be growing at Langlands. We still grow many of plants that we sell.
Our nurseries produce over 1/4 million plants a year, which give our customers the almost unique chance to buy their plants fresh from the growing houses, and have the opportunity to chat to the people who grew them. You can’t say that about many garden centres these days.
The fact we are growers at heart also means we can give professional advice about the plants we produce, and also stock one of the largest ranges of plants for baskets, tubs, borders and conservatories in the area. Although father would struggle to recognise Langlands today, the tradition he started of growing the best quality plants and freely sharing knowledge advice and tips with fellow growers is still at the heart of everything we do at Langlands.
John Ducker
