Help create a show garden

Usually the only chance we get to interact with show gardens and their makers is by admiring them at the shows. This year is different as we are all invited to make a knitted contribution to one of the most intriguing and heart warming displays set fair for this year's RHS Malvern Spring Festival.

There's going to be a knitted garden, created to raise awareness of and funds for the Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice in Gloucestershire. Clare Young - the garden's creator - took up knitting to manage her own grief after losing her husband Ken, who was cared for at the hospice. The items she created raised funds, and then after she and a group of friends yarnbombed a thank you to the hospice, she was invited to create a garden for Malvern.

Clare aims to raise £50,000 from her garden and to help her do so, she is asking for contributions of knitted and crocheted hearts. Take the link to find out more about her Work of Heart Garden, plus further links to the pattern.

I'll be making a heart or two and I look forward to seeing the completed piece at the show!

Malvern Memories: Impala Impersonations

On Monday when I introduced the Chris Beardshaw Mentorship, I mentioned that the show organisers always have some events which tie-in with the theme chosen by Chris. Last year it was dance and TCAS linked up with the students of a local college, who designed outfits inspired by the show gardens. This in turn led to all kinds of shenanigans. Arabella Sock showed us some of these last Thursday, now she turns her attention to what went on in the Design for Living Theatre...

Previously, on the bloggywog, the Sock has mentioned the Malvern fashion show hosted by James and the gorgeous Sabrina Duncan International. No doubt bored and fidgety after spending the morning trying to interject some life into the worthy but long-winded presentations by darling poppet Chris Beardshaw, James came into his own with the garden inspired fashion show. Just one problem... the models and their outfits were stealing the show! (clic the pics for the bigger picture)

Not to be outdone and perhaps a little jealous of the attention given to the young dancer James suddenly leapt into the air and grand jeté'd across the stage landing and twisting around to take a bow with the grace of an impassioned impala!

Unfortunately the Sock was so gob-smacked by these astonishing acrobatics that she missed the prized mid-air photo but managed to capture the bow. No-one was doubting who the star performer was now and James certainly looked pleased with himself!!

Content and pictures courtesy and copyright of Arabella Sock.

Show Garden Unseen

Gardens are designed for the needs of the client at all times of the day. It's the same with show gardens, even though the client may be an imaginary one and they're only usually on view during daylight hours. Here Claire reveals some of the 'out of hours' aspects to her show garden last year...

As a follow up to my recent post on the wonders of good solar powered lighting, I thought I'd better stump up with the proof. So, here are a series of images taken from the beautifully illuminated 'dancing with the trees' garden, at Malvern earlier this week...

and yes - these were all taken from the garden, using only the solar lighting...

Anyone who knows Claire is aware of her commitment to eco-friendly design. This is what she had to say in the run up to last year's Malvern Spring Show about solar powered lighting and the choice she made for her show garden.

And her garden didn't have any sponsorship either, so here's a glimpse of the ingenuity she employed in getting her design from paper to planted...

Another [secret] feature Claire installed resulted in this. Do you think it lived up to her garden's name: Dances with the Trees?

Malvern Memories: Magnificent Malvern

The first of our views of one of last year's Chris Beardshaw Mentorship show gardens, courtesy of Claire Potter...

I have come to believe that building a showgarden is very much like riding an extremely long rollercoaster. There are ups, there are downs, there are twists and turns, and somewhere along the line you will scream, cry and probably be sick.

And with this in mind, we set off a couple of weeks ago to build the latest in our offerings - 'dancing with the trees' at the Malvern Spring Show.

I have to admit, the staff at the Three Counties Showground are wonderful, so the rollercoaster runs much smoother than at other venues, but the threat of precipitation and a tight build schedule always tingles the nerves a little...

My first few days were spent working alone, excavating what seemed to be a roman path left over from previous gardens, and sleeping in a tent which I had somehow pitched on a scale replica of the Malvern hills themselves. Nice.

But then, on day four of the build, our proper accommodation arrived... our green bean trailer...

The prototype version of what we are now putting into production rolled up from Brighton on the back of Alberta, our Morris Minor, all shiny and new and itching to be used. The Green Bean is a little teardrop trailer that we have designed and built which we believe is possibly the most eco friendly mini caravan in the UK and was shown very briefly on Gardeners' World... but more of him in another post...

With an increased workforce, we rattled through the rest of the build, hampered only by the occasional rain, gale force winds and frequent biscuit breaks with our friends and neighbours (which made up most of our diet for two weeks...)

Judging day. Last minute touches to the garden. Leave. Cannot bear to watch judges on the garden so wander off. Hear reports from spies that the judges did indeed 'dance with the trees' as we had intended...

The first day dawns of the show, and we dutifully man our gardens from 8.00, awaiting the RHS medals or the dreaded 'no award letter'... So, what did we get? Another silver, which was great, but again, room for improvement.

So, up and down and up and down, the show rollercoaster continued...next, the Chris Beardshaw Scholarship... after hearing a report from Chris about how each of the potential scholars were received by the judges, 5 were invited to speak. I was lucky enough to take the stage, and spoke about my sustainable commitments as a designer. Others spoke about their own desires and aspirations as designers, then the board retired to deliberate...

An hour later, we were all reassembled, and even though I was disappointed not to be chosen, I was over the moon when my friend and show garden neighbour Paul Hervey-Brookes was awarded the scholarship. He is a wonderful and modest designer with a wealth of knowledge, and I have no doubts that he will do fabulously in his next year and beyond. Follow him via his very new blog here. Welcome to the blogging fray Paul...

The sun shone on us all for the vast majority of the show, which included a fantastical fashion show, cookery demonstrations and general frivolity, courtesy of the ever eloquent and engaging James Alexander-Sinclair, who I adore to bits.

So - hello to all of those who visited us, hello to those who didn't make it, and hello to all those wonderful people who made the garden happen in the first place. And congratulations to all of the scholars, who did themselves proud and were each awarded a medal. Another special well done goes to Deb, who dressed Lola to perfection, and was awarded a Silver medal and Best Border status. Well done and well deserved.

I will be doing a series of posts in the next week or so, highlighting specific bits and bobs in the garden and the show, so in the words of the eco Arnie himself, 'I'll be back'...

Malvern Memories: Here Come the Girls!

Normally when the Sock visits a Garden Show there will inevitably be some gardens that she dislikes - not so at Malvern. Whilst it is quite possible that the Sock didn't actually see all of them she was pretty impressed with those she did, in particular those competing for the Chris Beardshaw mentoring scholarship. This year it was themed around 'Dance' and the gardens also inspired students from the Worcester School of Art and Design to produce some beautiful garments and body art modelled both in the gardens and on a fashion parade hosted by James Alexander-Sinclair. This was heaven for the Sock combining aspects of her favourite TV programmes Project Runway (fashion design), America's Next Top Model (fashion and photography with a little too much girlie screeching) with garden design. More on that in a later blog but for now we have Chris Beardshaw with assorted models (clic on the pic for the bigger picture)

and two lovely gardens from 'Ladies who blog', first Claire Potter's 'Dancing with Trees' entered for the Chris Beardshaw scholarship.

It was quite impossible to capture in a photograph the movement and serenity of this garden or the fantastic way, the model wearing the garment inspired by this garden, both integrated into it and enhanced it.

Then Deborah Bird's 'Hort Couture' one of the 'Borders without Gardens' a beautiful, delicate flowing gown of flowers (I've blurred the background to show the dress off to better effect).

Text and pictures courtesy and copyright of Arabella Sock.

Celebrity gardener threatens to eat chick unless audience buys new book shocker!*

"Go on... what's 15 quid compared to the priceless life of a small chick?"*

*No - not really. Joe was overcoming his chicken phobia. I can report that he is most definitely a Very Nice Man.

[It looks like chickens will also feature in this year's show. And Joe of course. Though not necessarily together this time - Ed.]

Text and pictures courtesy and copyright of The Inelegant Gardener.

The Floral Marquee

The giant Floral Marquee is one of Malvern's tipitty-top highlights. As it's the show's Silver Jubilee this year, the organisers are ensuring that it'll be the best ever. 104 nurseries will be exhibiting, including Bob Brown's fabulous Cotswold Garden Flowers nursery - Gardens Illustrated readers may recognise him from his monthly plant selection column this year - NB he will not be exhibiting at Chelsea, so his appearance is always a major coup for Malvern.

Of these 104, 25 nurseries have been invited to form the Marquee's centrepiece on the theme of Celebration. David Matthewman, famed for his sweet peas is coming back specially (having retired 2 years ago) to provide the anniversary cake. All nurseries have the chance to contribute their favourite plant for a Best of the Best display: they will also be judged for RHS medals as usual and there will be a new People's Choice award, so we will have the opportunity to vote for our favourite exhibit.

If all that plus my couple of photos from last year doesn't whet your appetite enough, here's Happy Mouffetard's in-depth tour around last year's Floral Marquee (text and photos are her copyright as usual). NB do take her tip about visiting early in the day - it can get rather crowded.

SomeBeans has banned me from buying any more seeds this year. He didn't, however, mention anything about not buying plants. So, it was with itchy fingers that I entered the floral marquee on Saturday.

It's always the first place we go, to try and avoid the huge crowds later in the day. And what a wonderful sight to the plant lover. Such variety, such care taken over the displays. So many great plants that I wanted.

I'm not a huge fan of bonsai, but this hawthorn was eye-catching.


I'm also not a fan of auriculas, but another great display. I can see why people get obsessed with the different flower colours, the doubles, the farina, even if I can't understand it myself.

This peony, on the other hand, is so delicious I could have eaten it.

From peonies to pleiones - I wish I was brave enough to try and grow them.

This angelica looked stunning against the canvas of the marquee.

And finally, to continue my obsession this year with tulips, I loved the light coming through these petals.

I didn't actually buy any of the plants above, though. I bought...

Astrantia 'Hapsden Blood', Geum 'Borissii', and Centaurea montana 'Alba', each of which I've been able to split. Very restrained of me, I think you'll agree.

Fellow garden bloggers, I have a confession to make…

...I have lapsed from the way and failed to keep up with our noble calling.

Once upon a time, I blogged regularly under the pseudonym of ‘R. Pete Free’ and the site visit counter told me I had a faithful readership. Sadly, fate intervened and I had to rebrand as ‘NewShoot’, a person who finds it difficult to keep up a flow of bloggy entertainment and instead spends her time lurking round other people’s pages, throwing in random comments here and there. However, the thought of missing out on a bloggers’ get-together has stimulated me to dig out a few early Malvern memories and get writing again, so I don’t have to spend the day with my nose pressed against the willow hurdles looking at you all relaxing in glory in the Garden Bloggers’ Lounge.

Six years ago I was running a fledgling garden design business. I had a few builds under my belt, nothing structural had fallen down, no planting scheme had died too obviously, but I wanted to learn more about this strange new world I was working in. I hoovered up every opportunity to see the work of other designers, to build up my knowledge of materials and suppliers…and, to be honest, I enjoyed a good day out looking at plants!

So when the opportunity came to tag along with the Friends of the Oxford Botanic Garden coach trip to the Malvern Show I jumped at the idea. I’d not been before as it wasn’t one of the ‘Big Shows’ at the time, but it was being promoted as the first Design Show of the year – it would hopefully would be a lot less crowded than the annual Chelsea battle AND you could buy the plants!

It took us around 2 hours on the coach to reach Malvern from Oxford…and then another hour sitting in the queue for the car park… I’ll be interested to find out whether this experience has improved over the years! This time I think I’ll be testing the shuttle bus service from Malvern station instead.

My impressions of Malvern Show as it was then – it was small but enjoyable. I was slightly disappointed that there weren’t more show gardens, but those that were there were fun. Some of the displays from the landscaping materials suppliers were just as good as the gardens – and I could pretend to be working by examining the quality of their pointing and collecting their shiny brochures.

I seem to remember good chips and cake (nobody needs a balanced diet on an outing to a flower show, carbs for energy is what’s needed!) and am racking my brains to remember whether there was a Celebrity Design Theatre Experience – I’m sure I saw a spontaneous performance from Joe Swift coming up with solutions for awkward gardens sometime around then…but was it Malvern?...those brain cells have long gone!

What I do remember were the floriferously gorgeous nursery stalls - trying to decide which of many desirable plants to buy, aiming to balance my greed against the knowledge that I’d have to carry the purchases for hours before being allowed back on the coach. A variegated daylily, Melianthus major and some offerings to satisfy my Digitalis fetish returned to Oxford that evening (funny how I can remember the plants but not the people?)

How has it grown over the intervening years? I’m excited to see that the website is advertising many more show gardens – 16 in all, as well as 8 from Chris Beardshaw’s mentoring competition and several from local schools. That should give loads of inspiration. There are supposed to be over 100 plant nurseries now, so my buying decisions will be even more difficult! Over those years I’ve also got to know, and work with, some of the nurseries and designers, so it will be a chance to catch up with friends instead of just looking on from the outside.

Now I’m teaching design and horticulture, so I’m looking forward to the chance to take photos of show gardens to inspire my students, to refresh my collection of supplier brochures with info on new products they are launching this year and, of course, to discover exciting new plant cultivars.

But best of all, looking forward to the bloggers’ convention and the chance to to meet many of my virtual friends in real life…and eat cake with them!

This post is a joint simulcast with New Shoot :)

Malvern Memories: James Alexander-Sinclair demonstrates new Acme Rapid omelette-making device

"Just gently press on the back of the device, whilst whispering gentle words of encouragement"

"And voilà!"

"Oops. Just don't forget to place a bowl beneath the device before activating it".

Malvern Memories: A Real Shopper

Whilst we're on the subject of shopping, Anna admirably demonstrates the rewards that proper dedication to the art can bring. I've combined a couple of her previous posts to bring you:

First up at Meet @ Malvern is the house that Himself built...

I am away from home and garden at the moment but himself is keeping me updated with his progress in putting up my new greenhouse. We bought this at the Malvern Spring Show back in May at a special show price. I did not have any intentions of making such a purchase before the show and was sweet talked into it by himself. However I am smitten with it already - it's bigger and better than its predecessor whose removal still caused my eyes to moisten as it departed for pastures new. I can't wait to get home later this week to make a start getting everything sorted out and to sow some sweet peas.

...and then she took us home to meet the family...

They are sociable, are not fussy eaters, do not play loud music at night and only speak when they are spoken to !

They came home with us after we visited the Malvern Spring Gardening Show earlier this year. Himself having not only talked me into buying a new greenhouse but also into purchasing a Can -O- Worms from Wiggly Wrigglers who were exhibiting at the show. We shared our campervan with a thousands worms for a night or two - well I am exaggerating somewhat - they were in a sealed bag in a storage box, fixed to the back of the van. There was definitely no danger of any of them worming their way into our bed.

I must admit that I had hankered after a wormery for several years and just like the greenhouse they were on sale at a special show price. They are a source of constant amusement - I disappear into the shed at least once a day to check on their well being and to talk to them. However I do not think I will have any usable compost until the spring and I do not think that there will be vast amounts in the future to bulk up my allotment beds. My thoughts were confirmed by a recent visit to the library where I read a report on wormeries in "Which ? Gardening". Although Can- O -Worms emerged as the best buy the report advised that this product will not meet all the average gardener's compost needs. I am not complaining though as I think that I am getting my moneys worth in enjoyment, as well as having another place to dispose of kitchen waste. The question of the moment is whether they will be warm and cosy enough in the shed overwinter or should I bring them inside? Himself is not enthusiastic about the latter option.

Their very first meal ~

Anna wrote this in October 2009, so it looks like her worms have thrived since last year's Spring Show. And only last week she wrote about how delighted she still is with her greenhouse.

Content and pictures courtesy of Greentapestry.

Malvern Memories: On the Road Again

This time, Anna shows us the delights of Hampton Court, somewhere not far from Malvern which is older than the place of the same name in London. I had the pleasure of meeting up with Helen and going round this garden with her in August last year :)


Leaving the occupants of the greenhouse to entertain themselves for a couple of days, we have just been to the Malvern Spring Gardening Show. We broke our journey down south with a stop at Hampton Court Castle in Herefordshire . I could not wait to return to the gardens there after making my first visit there last summer. It was an ideal chance to call in again and I was not disappointed. Stepping into the walled garden we both commented on the rise in temperature - oh what would I give for a walled garden ! If we ever win the lottery jackpot a walled garden would be top of my list, followed by clean sheets every day of the year. Although it is still early in the season there was still plenty of colour. We met one of the gardeners who was cutting flowers for the house as the owners were visiting for the weekend. She had plenty to choose from including alliums, tulips, valerian, lilacs, euphorbias, both real and false 'Solomon's Seal' and tellima odorata - she highly recommended the latter for its scent.

Another week or so would have seen the wisteria arch at its peak ~

Instead I drooled over the one or two flower heads that had fully opened ~

There was not much planted yet in the vegetable garden but preparations for the new season were well underway. I admired these sweet pea supports where sweet pea 'Matucana' had been planted ~

Lusted after the greenhouses ~

before finishing our stroll with a visit to the restaurant ~

where it was warm enough to sit outside to eat - enjoying the views down to the river and the clouds of orange blossom ~

All too soon it was time to return to the camper van to continue with our journey to Malvern and the show. To be continued in my next post .......

Contents and photographs courtesy of Greentapestry.

Malvern Memories: The Other Malvern Spring Show

Staying with the theme of exploring outside of the Showground, Happy Mouffetard takes us back to the splendours of the Malvern Hills which can be seen in springtime...

What a weekend. I'll write lots on the Malvern spring garden show tomorrow when I'm back home, including which garden designer was upstaged by an egg-laying chicken [don't worry it'll get featured later on - Ed]. However, just in case anyone is thinking of going to the Malvern Show tomorrow [or even this year] and wants to round off a great day out with something even more spectacular, I'd recommend a trip to Cowleigh Woods in West Malvern.

And here's why...







And then we had a quick trip to Welland Village Hall, where there are these beautiful green-winged orchids.



Stunning!

Contents and photographs courtesy (and copyright) of The Inelegant Gardener.

Malvern Memories: Didn't I have a lovely day, the day I went to Malvern...

Once again, Arabella Sock proves that blogger coverage of events such as Malvern can be far more varied (and funnier) than anything you see on the telly...

Thank you for all you birthday wishes Sockwatchers it was indeed on Wednesday! The Sock organised herself a jolly little jaunt to Malvern staying at a nice country hotel on Wednesday and Thursday night and sipping champagne on her ownsome. Thursday was first time at Malvern and the Sock had the bestest time ever!!!

So the Sockerazzi was out in the hope of snapping celebs and she bagged a big one! Yes.. a proper famous person..

Other than that it was just the usual suspects I'm afraid. Hundreds of photos of Toby, Alys, Joe, James A-S and of course La Belle Beardshaw. Chris was there with his minder but the Sock still managed to get close enough to steal one of his hairs as she brushed past and now plans to clone lots of little Beardshaws from it. The Sock does hope they come true to the original although perhaps a bit taller.Loads more exciting stuff to share with you, plants, people, impala impersonations... the Sockerazzi got it all on camera!

And lo, a promise of lots more to come! Contents and photographs courtesy of The Sea of Immeasurable Gravy.