Plants Galore!

From seeds to olive trees - gardening
delights at the the Spring Festival

I’ve talked about Show Gardens of all types over the last few weeks and yesterday (Tuesday 29th) in beautiful sunshine actually managed to see them taking shape – dozens of images which I am saving for the final preview post at the end of this week. Meanwhile today’s post is focusing on PLANTS and exquisite floral displays – drooling over them, talking about them, and filling those bags, trolleys and even wheel-barrows with purchases. What will be the ‘must-have’ plant for this year, I wonder? (All images are from the 2013 show.)

In the Floral Marquee in 2013

With the Show having been renamed ‘RHS Malvern Spring Festival’, solidifying the strong connections between the Malvern Show and the Royal Horticultural Society, there’s a new location and a fresh look for the RHS Malvern Floral Marquee.  Now located on Avenue D, by the North Gate and shaped like a gigantic elongated  ‘U’, it will be home over the four days (8th-11th May) to 80 of the best UK and international nurseries selling a huge range of plants. Refreshments and additional premium exhibitors outside of the ‘U’ will ensure that this corner of the Showground provides a whole new ambience.

Roses all the way ….

Innovative displays calculated to add that WOW factor within the 5,500 square-metres are sure to appeal. Knowledgeable exhibitors will be happy to offer advice on the best plants to buy for your own garden and situation. Show stands are always as varied as the nature of the plants on show, and additionally this year there is to be a huge central celebratory display specially created by Cook’s Garden Centre – their team won a gold at the 2013 Spring show.

Spring Show 2013 floral collage

Indeed, a remarkable 80% of exhibitors are awarded RHS Gold or Silver Gilt medals and a large number are shown on Gardeners' World, BBC2. Many of the nurseries this year are displaying symbols in the Show Guide indicating that their stock is either grown wholly or partially on their own premises, useful for anyone new to gardening. Visitors will also enjoy the ‘Potting Bench’ located just outside the RHS Floral Marquee, providing an informal platform for growers to hold short, interactive demonstrations for visitors. Sessions are running thoughout the Festival and more details can be found at the 'Potting Bench' itself. More gardening advice can be obtained in the RHS Pavilion, conveniently situated close the floral marquee area.

A packed floral marquee in 2013

There’s more to entice gardeners to visit the Show: you’ll also love the Plant Pavilions, between Rows 2 and 3, floral art in the Avon Hall, Plant Village Plots in Row 4, and the show garden created by Warwickshire College through its Pershore campus in the floral marquee area. The Pershore marquee alongside their garden will provide visitors with information on the many courses available in subjects related to Garden Design, Landscaping, Horticulture and land-based learning. 

Stunning displays in 2013

Don’t forget the Wye Hall which will be home to National Specialist Plant Societies, the Alpine Garden Society Show, ‘Open Gardening’ and ‘Get Going Get Growing’ - details for which appeared on the Blog on 7th April. In brief, this last section will offer “Practical planting workshops for first-time gardeners allowing you to discover how to sow, grow and harvest flowers, fruit and vegetables”.

This is the penultimate post of the 2014 Show previews; the final post with latest news and  images of the show garden  build-up will appear at the end of this week. Have you bought your tickets?

Curtain Up (almost!)

Show Gardens in the making in the lee of the Malvern Hills
(all images were taken on Wednesday 1st May during
the build-up to the Malvern Spring Gardening Show)

As the final touches are put to show gardens and stands around the Three Counties Showground, I come to the end of my Spring Gardening Show previews. Thankyou for joining me on this journey, particularly if you have been with me from the beginning, back in the cold days of February; you’ve been a marvellous audience, if blog visitor numbers are anything to go by. Producing these posts has been a challenging experience;  and a real joy and privilege to have been leading you scene by scene through the various stages from imagination to reality.

Nostalgia appears in many forms

It’s been a strange adventure, too. Although I have posted so many times on various other blogs since I first discovered Malvern shows (in 2005), I have always felt on the outside, looking in; gradually, over the last twelve weeks, I have come to realise I am now on the inside, looking out. It has certainly changed my perception of what makes the Showground tick.

A long way to go yet -- but it will be ready on time

I walked around for quite a while on Wednesday (1st May), soaking it all in; the atmosphere, the busyness, the building of stands and show gardens, the camaraderie of everyone working together to bring you a magnificent Show. For first-time visitors it may appear bewildering as you walk through the gate; others may know exactly the direction in which they are heading, but you? I won’t take you by the metaphorical hand, but suggest instead that you head for one of the many coffee courts, relax for ten minutes or so and take a look at the show guide to get your bearings. With the spectacular hills behind you, orientate yourself … time well spent towards an enjoyable day.

This really IS - or will be - a Show Garden

Children participate as well

Waiting in the wings is this enormous cast of experienced and dedicated people, each with their own story to tell. There isn’t space to list them all, but the main features, with Show Guide pages to help you plan in advance, now follow:

Plants are delivered by the lorry load

* Show Gardens p22-37 (RHS awards and medals explained on page 123)
* Plants and People Theatre and programme of events (p47), highlights of which are outlined every day (Fri to Sun) at 10.30am by host James Alexander-Sinclair. (Thursday at 11.00am are the Malvern Young Gardener Awards)
* School Gardens and Education including the Discovery Zone and Theatreworks Arts Lab (p38-45)
* Malvern Spring Sportive Cycling Challenge - Sunday only (p49)
* Floral Marquee (7,000 square meters with more than 100 of the best nurseries from the UK and abroad (p53-61)

Just one section of the Floral Marquee - by 9th May it will be
crammed full of plant displays, plants for sale - and people
(don't forget your trolley, or buy one on site)

Indoor Halls & Pavilions:
* Wye Hall (p62-79) - Crafts and Craftsmen’s Guild displays; Garden Societies and Food Hall
* Gardeners’ Shopping Pavilion (p80-84)  - numerous stands PLUS ‘Dig for Prosperity’ (a new feature for 2013 highlighting the importance of creating a sustainable future for the countryside).
* Allotment Theatre (p86-87) located in the Shopping Pavilion and featuring an excellent programme of talks and demonstrations alongside ‘Grange Cottage’, a stage / garden.
* Avon Hall (p88) Floral Art.
* Three Counties Centre, Linden Suite (p89) – RHS Botanical Art Exhibition.
* Country Living Magazine Pavilion (p117-120) – an eclectic selection of stylish products from British independent designers, artisans and craftspeople.
* The RHS Stand (p50-51) – discover what the RHS can do for you: sharing knowledge and expertise, information on the various RHS initiatives such as Campaign for School Gardening; plus books and gifts.

Plants are appearing in the Show Gardens; soon all of them
will be planted to perfection

Outdoor Stands:
* ‘The Open’ (p93-115) – a huge variety of horticultural equipment, sundries and activities, plus nurseries (Plant Pavilions), plant crèche and porter service.
* Elgar Avenue (p106) – high-class shopping, alongside the RHS/TCAS members’ pavilion.
* Plaza Bandstand, by the Three Counties Centre, Row 7/Avenue F (p131) with performances by the seven-piece band Indigo Blues of vintage-style tunes inspired by jazz, blues and swing beats of yesteryear: each day between 1.30pm and 4.00pm. Sunday only (at 11..00am and 12.30pm), students from the Elgar School of Music will be playing their own blend of folk, jazz and world music.
* Catering facilities (p130) – are available throughout the Showground (indoors and outside).

Maybe you will spot me
around the Showground,
notebook in hand
scribbling or sketching.

As I write, the Show is still building. I will continue blogging during all four Show days, offering a kaleidoscopic scrapbook of Show news, activities and images. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances …..” (from As You Like It, Act II Scene VII). Hackneyed through over-use but still so very true, and nowhere more so than at The Malvern Spring Gardening Show. Everyone here, or visiting, is a part of it. We all hope you will enjoy your day in this most lovely of settings.

WHY NOT ALSO TAKE A LOOK AT THESE PAGES, TOO?  (Just click on the links):

Love our Shows, Like our Facebook Page - Facebook.com/threecounties
The International Orchid Show

Malvern Autumn Show

Malvern - a Shopper's Paradise

Buying hostas - the green of Spring - from a knowledgeable 
specialist in the Floral Marquee

PLANTS, PLANTS, PLANTS in marquee or pavilions; and for those who desire more than plants, an elegant shopping parade along which to linger, a feel for country living, or a browse around an Arts Market and Artisan Food stalls. There is so much to entice and beguile us all come May, it’s more a question of what to do first! And Malvern has that undeniable quality of location; you cannot miss the feel of Spring, or that sense of exuberance on the Showground, with the Hills so close, watchful and protecting.

There's plenty of choice in the Floral Marquee
from foxgloves to fritillarias, poppies to pelargoniums - and more

Garden and plant lovers more often than not head straight for the Floral Marquee or the Plant Pavilions. The former under cover – and the latter a row of tented nurseries with outdoor plantings in which you can see many of the plants growing in realistic situations. Intrepid plant hunters will know the ropes, but newcomers to gardening and first-timers at the Show may feel a little bewildered. So first, a few tips: wear comfortable clothing and sensible shoes. Cash in hand will speed up your plant purchases and there’s a plant crèche and porter service conveniently placed on Row 3 so you can snap up those ‘must-haves’, deposit them into safe keeping, and enjoy the rest of the day unburdened. (Don’t forget to collect them!) Alternatively, stalls abound selling trolleys or folding barrows, so there isn’t a problem if you get carried away!

Sampling the Plant Pavilions
(plant creche is in the 
black building middle left)

It would be invidious - and unfair - to single out specific nurseries or plant exhibitors for there are so many, and we all have our favourites,  'must haves' and an understandable penchant for different plants. But a suggestion to make the most of having so many marketing ‘live’ at a single location (as opposed to looking at their websites) is to take a look around your garden – now, today, and onwards until the Show – and list what you might want to look for: a shrub or climber to fill that gap where the neighbour has positioned an unsightly compost heap (important as they are); or perhaps grasses for a new-style border, or alpines for a trough. I’ll be looking for foxgloves (a love of mine since childhood, and this year’s Show emblem).

You can't mistake the Floral Marquee, but signposts around
the Showground will direct you

A few facts: there are around 30 Plant Pavilions and these are all located in Row 2, opposite the range of covered halls: Avon Hall packed with Floral Art, Gardener’s Shopping Pavilion with the Allotment Theatre and its ‘Dig for Prosperity’ theme, and the Wye Hall filled with food and wine stalls and the Three Counties Guild of Craftsmen - all with wares to sell. As for the Floral Marquee, it covers more than 7,000 square metres and accommodates 100 of the best nurseries from the UK and abroad. Exhibitors' displays are judged by some of the top judges from the Royal Horticultural Society, with many of the displays winning coveted RHS Gold Medals. A truly impressive sight and definitely not to be missed, if you are addicted to plants.

Enjoy the shopping experience along the 'Elgar Parade'

Shopping Paradise exists in other parts of the Showground, so leave yourself time to explore. The prestigious ‘Elgar Parade’ is this year re-sited onto Row 5 at the very heart of the Show with easy access from all parts of the Showground. It has new tentage, floral displays and incorporates entrance to the RHS/TCAS Members Pavilion. Shopping par-excellence. And the significance of Elgar? Classical music-lovers will be aware that Elgar loved the area all around the Malvern Hills, and explored the countryside on his bicycle in the early 1900s. He wrote far more than the music for ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. It is perhaps more fitting that his name is celebrated here, for he commented, "This is what I hear all day – the trees are singing my music – or have I sung theirs?" He is buried in a local Churchyard, within sight of the fields and wooded hills where he once cycled.

Self-explanatory and well worth it

Across from the Elgar Parade, at its intersection with Avenue F, is the chic and fashionable ‘Country Living Pavilion’ with numerous boutique-style stands. Associated with stylish ‘Country Living’ magazine, this area is for anyone whose heart is in the country; it offers a "unique lifestyle package, mixing homes and decorating with food and farming; crafts and gardening with fashion, health and beauty". A wonderful eclectic mix, whether you are seeking a new outfit, fabrics for your home, or art and nostalgic memorabilia.

Allow yourself plenty of browsing time inside 'RHS Life'

Stroll across to ‘RHS Life’ in the Show Garden area, for more shopping delights. As well as offering expert gardening advice, you will find details on RHS membership and quality gardening books to buy. Plus a range of specially designed and commissioned gifts inspired by the subject of gardens: from fine china to tea-towels and floral paper napkins – I am addicted to buying these and use them in my hand-made Malvern Journals. An Arts Market is also to be found in the Show Garden area, and Artisan Food Stalls by the striking Three Counties Centre. If you still have time, the rest of the Showground is host to numerous other exhibitors selling all manner or garden related products – no-one is likely to leave empty-handed! Have you booked your tickets yet?

AND PLEASE ‘KEEP VISITING’: I’ll be blogging again in two weeks time, and weekly after that. But meanwhile, I recommend regular clicks onto the Spring Gardening Show website for regular updates and more breaking news.

WHY NOT ALSO TAKE A LOOK AT THESE PAGES, TOO?  (Just click on the links)
Malvern Spring Gardening Show
Love our Shows, Like our Page - Facebook.com/threecounties
Malvern Autumn Show