Festival Theatricality

Making notes during the Show Garden build-up last week

The RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2014 is upon us – opening to eager visitors from Thursday 8th May to Sunday 11th May, 9.00am to 18.00 hours each day, come sunshine or (maybe inevitably, the odd shower of rain).

Seeing how it's done ….

With the Showground having been transformed this year, take a moment or two to gain your bearings – maybe over tea or coffee in one of the many refreshment areas. The Show Gardens will delight you – having been privileged to spend a morning on one of the build-up days, I wanted to show you the sheer theatricality of it all. From a veritable building site with earth-movers and scaffolding, wonders have emerged. 

Malvern transformed

More earth-moving, as well as scaffolding, was needed here

Plants were waiting in the wings for their appearance on stage, once the ‘sets’ had been constructed. All will be in pristine condition, come Thursday. Designers will be keen to talk about their gardens; there’s always plenty to learn from their expertise which you can put into practice in your own plot back home. Or just make notes or take photos; what I saw under construction was truly amazing.

All hands on deck, but still time for a much-needed cuppa

Don’t forget the Spring Festival Theatre on the Village Green, which is combining gardening and cookery in an exciting programme of talks, demonstrations and Q&A (question and answer) sessions. The theatre setting has been designed and built by garden designer Peter Dowle who has been involved with so much of this year’s theatricality – in this instance, a kitchen garden to host the theatre programme. 

(Photo courtesy TCAS)

The latest Show news is that HRH The Princess Royal is spending time at the Festival on Friday 9th. She will be met by the Lord Lieutenant for Worcestershire, Lt Col Patrick Holcroft LVO OBE and Mrs Annie Holcroft, and will tour the event with Three Counties Agricultural Society President, Dame Janet Trotter DBE HML. Her Royal Highness is no stranger to the Showground – her first visit was in 1976; she served as TCAS President in 1981 and opened the new Members Complex overlooking the Main Arena in 1986. She last visited the Show in 2010, in its 25th year and met some of the exhibitors who have been with the event since its beginning. Said RHS Malvern Spring Gardening Show Manager, Doreen Smillie: “We are naturally delighted that Her Royal Highness she should choose to honour us with a visit to our new-look show.”

Show Garden Build-Up in progress a week ago

Remember stout shoes (or wellies), rainwear for just-in-case, and a capacious bag/bags or folding trolley for all those purchases. The latter can usually be purchased on site from various exhibitors; for you are sure to get carried away with all those must-have plants, sundries, local food and other delights. AND DON’T FORGET YOUR TICKETS! (I’m now signing out, for this is the last preview for the 2014 Spring Festival. I’ll be back later in the year, but meanwhile if you like what I photograph and write about, you’ll find me on various social network sites, or ‘Google-search’ me to discover my various personal Blogs and new weekly online newsletter.)

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?

Get Going, Get Growing – and Giant Welly Spotting!

Art installation 
up in the hills

In the vernacular, I think it’s known as “putting the boot in” – but no way is that the case here. At the moment, an amazing and specially commissioned Giant Welly art installation has been walking the hills, or transiting between iconic venues and shopping malls around Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire introducing anyone who sees it to the RHS Malvern Spring Festival. What a marvellous visual invitation to explore the delights of what this year’s Show has to offer. It’s already been to Malvern’s Morgan Car Factory and Holywell Water, as well as Worcester Cathedral and the Crowngate Shopping Centre until April 10th (see image below).

In the Crowngate Shopping 
Centre, Worcester

The Giant Welly will appear at the Showground at Countrytastic – a great family day out – on April 17th and will move onto the National Trust’s Croome Court, before visiting Malvern Theatre. The welly will also put in a special appearance at The Cheltenham Jazz Festival where it will sit in a show garden setting for music lovers to enjoy. During the Giant Welly Tour, the public is invited to take a picture of themselves with the boot then post that image into our Facebook page.  Those who do so will be entered into a competition to win one of three VIP packages to the RHS Malvern Spring Show. Happy welly spotting!

Read on for this week’s preview installment: 

Adult workshop participation is to be a new theme at this year's Show

Greater emphasis this year is being given to LEARNING and DISCOVERY, and the new topic of ‘Get Going, Get Growing’ for visitors of any age who are keen to experience ‘grow your own’ for real will surely appeal. Practical planting workshops for first-time gardeners will allow you to find out how to sow, grow and harvest flowers, fruit and vegetables. It’s never too late to begin, or to learn.

Eager to talk to visitors, and already knowledgeable 
about creating a garden

Fortunate indeed are the children at those schools who have taken on the School Garden Challenge this year with a new patron – Chris Collins, formerly resident ‘Blue Peter’ gardener from 2004 to 2013. Along with Phil Eves from sponsors BAM Construct UK Ltd, Chris joined a panel of experts when youngsters from across the region descended on the Showground in February for a series of workshops aimed at helping them put together their competitive Show Gardens which they are building for the RHS Malvern Spring Festival.

Excited participants at the 2013 Spring Show

The RHS Malvern Spring Festival, is the only RHS Show in the UK to have a collection of Show Gardens designed and built entirely by school children. This year sees a record number of 21 schools from Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire, Wiltshire and Warwickshire creating gardens on the theme ‘A Great Moment in History’ with youngsters from playgroups up to pupils in Year 13 taking part. 

2014 school garden design: Meadows First School, Bromsgrove

Speaking about the workshop, Chris said, “It has been a superb way to kick off the School Gardens Challenge for RHS Malvern. The two days of workshops have put everybody in the mood and the ideas have been flying. I am so excited about the show in May and seeing the children’s show gardens come to life. These show gardens will give the kids a real insight into practical gardening and give them memories that they will treasure." Visitors can join Chris Collins on a tour of the school gardens - times to be announced in a future post.

2014 school garden design: Castlemoreton CE Primary School
(Malvern district)

Sue Verdeyen, Education Officer for the Three Counties Showground, commented: “At RHS Malvern, we are passionate about inspiring young people to fall in love with gardening and design. We are very proud to be the only RHS show that has a project specifically for schools. It’s a great opportunity for the children to get some hands on experience into the design, horticultural and construction industries. These youngsters are involved in every aspect of creating their gardens; the design, the sowing, the growing of their own plants and the hard landscaping."

2014 school garden design:
Abberley Parochial VC Primary School (north-west Worcestershire)

It’s always interesting to see how children interpret any theme and this year will be no exception. Visiting their 4mx4m square gardens will be a revelation with ‘Great Moments in History’ as the theme. Topics chosen are extremely varied and include: ‘The Mouse’s Web’; ‘Dr Foster went to Gloucester’; ‘One Small Step for man, One Giant Leap for Mankind’; ‘Double Helix Garden’; ‘The Wheel Garden’; ‘Growing our Future’; ‘It’s a Ming Thing’; ‘Digital Growth’; ‘An Explosion of Colour’; ‘Never Forget’; ‘What have the Roman’s ever done for us?’; ‘Creation of the Union Jack’; ‘The Battle of Tewkesbury’; ‘400 Years of The Elms’; ‘Game, Set and Match’; Interesting, ingenious, and some will leave you guessing – so do visit (8th-11th May) and support these young gardeners (and historians) in-the-making.

Garden designers of the future … please support their endeavours
at the 2014 RHS Malvern Spring Fetival

Food Glorious Food

Sharing  food together as a family is very special

Food is a necessity for a happy and healthy life (along with various other facets of course) and this year, the organisers of the RHS Malvern Spring Festival are pulling out all the stops to ensure that it is a key feature of the Show (8th to 11th May). Not only is the Showground going through a metamorphosis to stage the entire Show, TCAS are calling all foodies to come and enjoy what is on offer – a greatly enhanced festival of food.

An enjoyable scene from 2013 - vendors and buyers

Tying in with its links to the to the gardening aspect of the Show, the Food Festival at RHS Malvern will have a whole pavilion dedicated to Grow and Taste. The supply chain between artisan food producers and the source of their ingredients will be laid bare and celebrated. 

From plot to food stall

The ever-popular TV Chef, James Martin, will be headlining the food festival with demonstrations and talks throughout the weekend. “No one can underestimate the links between food and gardening. If you love good food, the chances are you are pretty into where it has come from. The journey from field to plate is so often talked about in the media – however it is the allotment owners and the keen gardeners who are having the most fun with producing their own. I love the fact that RHS Malvern has tied in food to this year’s line up. It’s an inspirational experience for gardeners and foodies alike.”

Rachel Allen

Friday will see busy TV chef, journalist and author of ten best-selling cookery books, Rachel Allen, take to the stage with top TV gardener Christine Walkden. They will both share their expert knowledge from the kitchen and the garden in a ‘Ready Steady Cook’ style presentation. Rachel said:  “I am utterly thrilled to be involved with this year’s RHS Malvern Spring Festival as it is the first year to intertwine food with gardening. There is a great synergy between spades and spoons and in order for us chefs to produce wonderful dishes, the growth and harvest of our produce is so important. The Festival is set to showcase all that is great about food and gardening and I am really looking forward to seeing what’s in store.”

Food Glorious Food

Located at the heart of the Show is the Severn Hall and a new (as yet unnamed) feature designed to create some real ‘theatre and drama’ for visitors. The whole space will be designed by multi-awards winning garden designer, Peter Dowle, and broken into a series of garden rooms. “It is going to be a dining experience not seen at the Spring Festival before ..... we're bringing in some huge plants for the central jungle area with pool , together with a woodland, village green , and farm market showing some of the 'raw' ingredients that will be used by the innovative catering team from Relish. ...... All very exciting and we can't wait to get going !" 

Purchasers eager to buy food from specialist producers

As more details emerge on the increasing links between gardening and food, we will continue to post. I've been attending the Spring Shows since 2006, and writing about them every year, and 2014 is going to be very special. (Author's Note: All images posted are from previous shows. So different will be the new Food Festival at RHS Malvern that as yet we have no representative shots, though I hope to bring you a sneak preview during the build-up.)

Show Garden Variety in 2014

Stages of Show Garden construction for the May 2013 Spring Show

With some awesome themes and evocative Show Gardens scheduled for this year’s RHS Malvern Spring Festival, and in a new location on the Showground for 2014, I think back to last year’s build-up and the sheer ingenuity that will turn patches of sometimes muddy ground into desirable garden spaces. Whether it is bringing a message home, or creating a garden for the sheer joy of doing so, this year’s themes will captivate as much as in any former year.

Show Garden OS567, 'Shears & Chardonnay': 
Designer Jody & Tim Lidgard

Nine in all, and varying in size and shape, the names alone will inspire, and maybe have one guessing as to hidden meanings. Take ‘Shears and Chardonnay’ – a Woodland garden representing a corner or the end of the country garden where boundaries can often blur and merge with the surrounding lanes and fields in rural Suffolk.

Show Garden OS562, 'Blush': 
Designer Outer Spaces Design Ltd

Or ‘Blush’ – an urban retreat, with somewhere to sit and relax whilst escaping the stress of everyday life. A stepping stone path leads you into the centre of the space, which is a seating area enclosed by rendered walls. A sculptural piece consisting of stainless steel flowers on long stems forming a ‘ball’ is echoed throughout the space with living box balls. 

Show Garden OS565, 'A Fruity Story': 
Designer Richard Wanless Twigs Gardens

Secret spaces appeal to many gardeners faced with the everyday stresses of a busy life, so ‘A Fruity Story’ is sure to appeal. A modern yet informal kitchen garden, it provides somewhere to relax, to enjoy the fruits of one’s labours. Inspired by the new format of the RHS Malvern Spring Festival, the designer has incorporated three festival themes in the garden – Food and Drink, Grow and Taste and Heritage.

Show Garden OS566, 'Living with Parkinson's Garden': 
Designer Ruth Gwynn

The ‘Living with Parkinson’s Garden’ try to illustrate what it must be like to live with Parkinson’s disease Parkinson’s is caused by the loss of nerve cells in the brain. It leads to the main symptoms of tremors, slowness of motion and stiffness. Many sufferers experience feelings of frustration that they can no longer do simple everyday tasks easily. So the journey around this garden is intended to be deliberately difficult and frustrating. 

Show Garden OS568, 'Ooooh … It makes me wonder': 
Designer Teresa Rham Groundesigns

'Ooooh …. It makes me wonder’ should resonate with us all, for it reflects upon the one situation which we will all experience sooner or later – death. The garden depicts an imaginary, unearthly place – a location between the physical and metaphysical worlds, whilst at the same time providing a sense of security by replicating the ‘familiar’.

Show Garden OS564, 'The Quiet Garden':
Designers Angie Turner, Kristina Fitzsimmons & Patrick Swan

Raising awareness of the International Quiet Garden Trust whilst illustrating the ability of gardens to encourage rest, spiritual refreshment and meditation is ‘The Quiet Garden’. It is intended to provide spiritual refreshment by stilling the mind with turns in the meditation path requiring concentration – a diversion from daily worries. The Trust is a small charity which spreads its network across the world – gardens could be found in private homes, churches, schools, retreat centres and hospitals.

Show Garden OS563, Bringing Nature Home': 
Designer Graduate Gardens Ltd

'Bringing Nature Home' has been inspired by natural planting and shows how British native wildflowers can be incorporated into a more modern style of garden. The layout has a modern feel, leading out into the natural rural landscape beyond; with the naturalistic planting setting it at ease within the landscape. Wildlife friendly to encourage bees and butterflies, it incorporates a simple reflective pool, with drips of water coming down from the steel joist creating simple ringlets on the water surface.

Show Garden OS561, 'ROSY & Victory': 
Designer Samantha Willis Garden Design

2014 marks 100 years since the start of the First World War and ‘ROSY & Victory’ is an Edwardian-style design celebrating the traditional English garden, as inspired by the war poet Siegfred Sassoon. 

’’Return to greet me, colours that were my joy, 

Not in the woeful crimson of men slain, 

But shining as a garden; come with the streaming 

Banners of dawn and sundown after rain.” 

It’s a garden within a garden (typical of many a garden of the time, when small garden entities were fashioned within much larger acreage. 

Show Garden OS569, 'En su Casa en La Playa': Designer Villaggio Verde

Transport yourself abroad to the Balearics and the largest Show Garden ever to have been constructed at Malvern. ‘En su Casa en La Playa (At home on the beach)’ is a theatrical representation designed to evoke happy memories of summer and holidays in the sun. At the back of the beach house is a driveway lined with aromatics, and olive trees set into lawn areas.  At the front of the house are specimen rosemary densely planted along with agave, palms, yucca gloriosa and grasses. The beach house itself is surrounded by potted citrus and aromatics and enhanced with climbers. There’s even a paella hut.

Nine green gardens to entice you to Malvern
on any day from 8th-12th May, 2014

So lose yourself amongst these imaginative Show Gardens, remembering their new location near the West Gate, facing the Malvern Hills. And don't forget to book your tickets online to save you time. (You can even now print your tickets once you have booked.)

Welcoming Spring ...

At the heart of the Showground

“Hello again!” It’s so good to be saying that, after the gap between last year’s ‘Malvern Autumn Show’ and this, the first of my ‘RHS Malvern Spring Festival’ posts. And welcome to anyone who is visiting this blog for the first time; we hope you will visit regularly. Committed follower, or first-timer, you will find much to delight and inform you in the posts I have scheduled for the coming weeks between now and the actual show (8th-11th May, 2014).

It may still be grey and damp outside but ‘those hills’ are as beautiful as ever, and before long will overlook the most remarkable transformation. For the former Spring Flower Show at the Three Counties Showground is no more; the show is undergoing a sea-change – the first of which is a name change to the ‘RHS Malvern Spring Festival’. 

Such a wonderful location for a Showground, and
beautiful even on a grey winter's day

A selection of 2013 plant exhibitors

Under this new guise there will be a much wider focus on gardening, growing, show gardens, workshops, celebrity garden ‘know-how’, Plant Pavilions and seed suppliers and of course the RHS Malvern Floral Marquee (5,500 square metres: home for four days to over one hundred top nurseries). Plants and flowers galore – in fact, a plant-a-holic’s paradise. 

Garden-themed eating places will be popping up all over the 
Showground (this was actually part of a 2013 show-garden, 
and very appealing)

An almost equal focus will be placed on FOOD with guest chef James Martin cooking up a feast in a specially designed kitchen garden, and Irish TV chef Rachel Allen also on stage creating dishes using delicious local ingredients. There’s to be a new Food and Drink Pavilion in a huge marquee where you will be able to savour a fine array of regional, national and international delicatessen, and a Food Court in which to enjoy everything from French crepes and spicy fajitas to chutneys, ciders and beer. Plus an Artisan Market offering food from the region’s smaller producers; not to be missed, and very special. The Severn Hall is to become a conservatory-style eating area with a garden café. You can also enjoy a sensual Tea Experience, sampling exotic teas and tisanes from around the world in an authentic oriental garden lounge. Under wraps for now is an area that may well become the focal point of the Show for many.

You will be amazed at how this showground 'field' will be transformed

Plans are still unfolding. As they wing their way to me through cyberspace; it feels as if I am already turning the pages of a new scrapbook – one as yet to be created from which I can cut-and-paste onto this blog. It’s a new era for the Showground. I have been visiting and writing about the Spring shows for almost ten years and have never been so excited. With thousands of photographic images already on file, and various personal hand-made notebooks documenting these past years, I can see that in 2014 it will take me all of the four available days and a very special sketch-book to record the ‘RHS Malvern Spring Festival’.

Now that the Show Previews have begun again, do bookmark this Blog so you can enjoy future posts bringing you even more details.