Wordless Wednesday: Paeonia lactiflora 'Avalanche'

From Primrose Hall Nursery

Flowers From My Local Nursery

Malvern Show has lots of nurseries within its three counties catchment which prove they're up with the best who exhibit at Chelsea and suchlike. However, I'm always pleased to see my local specialist nursery when it's time to display his foxgloves based on the national collection he holds here in Wiltshire.

Exhibitors' Essentials #5

Innovation and new twists to traditional ideas. Auriculas are always popular at the shows and an Auricula Theatre is the oft used way of displaying them. Here, Pop's Plants of Wiltshire has taken this display form and given it a fresh twist by marrying it with the show's Silver Anniversary celebrations.

As a result, the display was chosen most days (if not all) as the winner for the People's Choice awards in the Floral Marquee category.

Exhibitors with all of my 5 essentials stand a very good chance of achieving #6: a gold medal. Here is Meet @ Malvern's as awarded by the multiple gold medal winning designer, Cleve West on our last day at the show :)

Exhibitors' Essentials #4

A great sense of humour. The label next to this rather striking dark-leaved dandelion read:

Taraxacum faeroense

(Asteraceae)

Great for a lawn display

Exhibitors' Essentials #3

A good name - click on the image to see what caught my eye ;)

I mean 'good name' in both senses of the word: not only an appropriate business one like the one shown above, but also a good reputation. The many nurseries who exhibit at Malvern have oodles of both as evidenced by these healthy plants in tip top condition ready to be snaffled up by visitors.

As well as the 100 or so nurseries exhibiting in the Floral Marquee, there were dozens more in the shopping areas. If you enter the show via the South Car Park you are greeted by a long row of specialist nurseries such as those pictured. Absolute heaven!

Like their marquee counterparts, these nurseries have exquisite displays to show off their wares in addition to the many rows of plants for sale. Jekka's Herb Farm was exhibiting here for the first time in 5 years and was awarded an unexpected gold medal. I hope to be catching up with Jekka soon, as she's kindly agreed to be a VP VIP :)

The second of the pictured nurseries is Heucheraholics (formerly the Solva 'Sweetie Shop'), who changed their name after Arabella Sock coined the term. It was great to see Sean again, who promptly shouted over to Jooles: Hey, it's VP, much to the consternation of their customers. I was duly presented with this year's pen and a Heuchera themed mousemat. Sean and Jooles will also be at Chelsea later this month, so do pop over and say hello to them if you're going there.

Exhibitors' Essentials #1

Trolley loads of quality plants to top up your stand's sales area, plus somewhere to make a decent cup of tea. Ahhhhhh, that's better.

I had a fantastic time at Malvern and from the posts and the buzz on Twitter I've seen so far it looks like everyone else did too. My mind's in a bit of a whirl at the moment, so I only feel capable of pulling out the odd image and a quick summary to tell you about what happened at the weekend.

Everyone else is being much better about telling you about their experiences and the show, so I'm going to hoover them up into a Mr Linky below so you can trawl through them all at your leisure. My dear fellow Malvern Meeters: do feel free add any posts of yours I've missed...

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.

Malvern Memories: Heucheraholics!

Today's Malvern Memory is our first from the reknowned Ms Arabella Sock of The Sea of Immeasurable Gravy. She takes us away from the the show gardens we've been enjoying over the past couple of weeks and propels us firmly towards the exciting nurseryman's stands in order to indulge in one of her favourite plant genera, the Heuchera...

Look what the Sock got!!!!

It is a pen from the eponymous 'Heucheraholics' (previously Solva Plants) and it says on it 'Heucheraholics for the hopelessly addicted!' Bet you are all really jealous now!

The Sock couldn't resist visiting the gorgeous 'Heucheraholics' stand at Malvern but had instructed herself not to buy any more heucheras for her already burgeoning collection.

Obviously she bought another one, the irresistible 'Sugar Frosting' because let's face it you can't have too many. The Sock mentioned to the nice lady on the stand that she had to buy one to blog about. "Oh, what blog is that" asked the lady. The Sock realising her identity might be discovered quickly blurted "I can't tell you it's a bit scurrilous". "Not the Gravy one?" Too late - the Sock's cover was blown.

It turned out that the lovely 'Heucheraholics' people were Sea of Immeasurable Gravy fans, finding the bloggywog after the Sock mentioned their stand at the RHS Inner Temple flower show last year. How funny is that! You must all buy lots of lovely plants from them. They will be at Chelsea next week and giving away fridge magnets - go and demand one and tell them the Sock sent you.

And to finish my eulogy to heucheras here is a 'pome' the Sock wrote a few years ago on getting home from a fruitless heuchera search, proving that the addiction has been going some time.

The Heucheras

(with apologies to William Wordsworth's 'The Daffodils')

I wandered lonely as a cloud

In search of heuchera 'Pewter Veil'

Or 'Can Can','Geisha' - names that wowed

Please let my favourites be for sale

A 'Strawberry Candy, 'Vanilla Spice

'Or 'Purple Petticoats' sounds quite nice

I dream of heucheras in line

Of 'Silver Shadows' 'Starry Night'

A 'Frosted Violet' would be fine

A 'Peach Flambé' would be all right

There's nothing from my list of faves

Just one sad pot of 'Amber Waves'!

And oft when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood

I think of heucheras and sigh

Those lovely plants with names of food

And then my heart with pleasure fills

(I want the one with Chocolate frills!)

We don't get nearly enough bad poetry on the gardening blogosphere these days and the Sock blames J-AS for proclaiming his dislike of it. But what does he know? Hmmm.. that is possibly like asking what the Romans did for us.........

Content and photographs courtesy of The Sea of Immeasurable Gravy.