Spring 2019

Head on over to Veg Plotting for her report of her Return to Malvern and 2019's Spring Festival...

A return to the autumn show

It's a while since I attended the Autumn show and it was well worth the wait until last Saturday as I thoroughly enjoyed my day there. A gin-clear sky and warm sunshine meant the hills made a glorious backdrop to the day's events.

The horticultural content may be lower than the spring show, but there was still more than enough to see. Floral excellence was to the fore in its new dedicated marquee and there were plenty of informative talks in the adjacent tent. I particularly enjoyed the garden version of 'Just a Minute' with subjects supplied by the audience. Much laughter flowed from the ensuing discussion and banter by James Alexander Sinclair, Alys Fowler, Joe Swift and Gyles Brandreth.

Malvern celebrates the harvest, with its own dedicated tent and the world of giant vegetables in particular. Half a dozen world records were broken this year, one twice in the space of 5 minutes. Another was broken by one grower who used the seed given to him by the previous record holder. He looked a little bemused on Sunday's Breakfast News, but that may have been due to the vagaries of live outside broadcasting.

There aren't any show gardens in autumn, though there are permanent gardens at the showground if you need that particular fix. Instead an opportunity is taken to display the fruits of the season, especially as Malvern is at the heart of England's top fruit activities. This was of particular interest as I have a few projects lined up for the coming years and I wanted to talk to the experts about them.

RV Roger deservedly won Best in Show with their exhibit of top fruit. They were also extremely helpful with all my questions about how to grow stepover apples. They highly recommend Lord Lambourne for this technique and so I duly added it to my list of potential varieties to grow.

I also took the opportunity to learn more about perry pears by going on a walk around the wider Three Counties showground. The national collection used to be held there, but has since moved to the aptly named Hartpury (reportedly meaning hard pear). Jim Chapman displayed 90 varieties from the new national collection and I giggled when I saw one is called 'Gin'.

There are still some perry trees to be seen in the grounds and I found I'd actually parked my car under one of them. We also tried one of the pears picked from a tree on our walk... rather hard and bitter tasting at first, with the familiar pear taste to finish. Back in the Orchard tent, the local perries tasted much finer!

I also took the opportunity to conquer a long held fear, but that story deserves a post of its own...

Wordless Wednesday: Paeonia lactiflora 'Avalanche'

From Primrose Hall Nursery

Spring 2016

I loved the presentation of these contrasting auriculas, courtesy of Drointon Nurseries 

Once again the RHS Malvern Spring Festival has excelled itself this year, topped by the best weather in my 10+ years of visiting the show.

There are plenty of delights - too many for one blog post - so Meet at Malvern presents... a round up of all the ones I've found so far. Let me know if you find any others.

• Grandma's Eco Gardening Notes - To the Hills Again - show preview
• Jack's Blog - Photos from RHS Malvern Spring Festival
• Meet at Malvern - Wordless Wednesday: Paeonia lactiflora 'Avalanche'
• Patient Gardener - RHS Malvern Spring Show 2016
• Sign of the Times - Friday Bench: Graduate Gardeners
• The Chatty Gardener - RHS Malvern Spring Festival - show preview... and Reflections on RHS Malvern Spring Festival and RHS Malvern in Pictures - the aspects which caught Mandy's eye
• The Cynical Gardener - Plant buying and fake fungi
• The English Garden - 5 Things we love from RHS Malvern Spring Festival
• Veg Plotting - In Praise of the Festival Theatre - an aspect of the show which is often overlooked (except when Arabella Sock and Happy Mouffetard are there)
• Veg Plotting - The Lost World of Capability Brown - some research surprises unearthed as part of this year's Capability Brown 300 celebrations
• Vergette Gardens - Malvern Spring 2016 - fantastic pictures of the show gardens, proving it's worth getting up early to take them

See you in the autumn? Show dates are 24th and 25th September.

Spring 2015

Constraining Nature by Kate Durr - Best in Show in the Festival Gardens category

Malvern gets better each year and this weekend's spring show was no exception. There were more gold medals than ever, including this amazing garden by show garden first-timer and trainee garden designer Kate Durr.

The pink tulips are 'Caresse' which has been adopted by the charity Ucare. Kate chose to support this Oxfordshire based cancer charity which raises funds to support urology research and raise awareness of urological cancers.

As usual I'm using this post to gather those blog posts I find about this year's show:

• Blackberry Garden - Preview of RHS Malvern Spring Show, plus news of her visit to the show - Part 1 and Part 2
• Patient Gardener - Show Gardens - Some Highlights
• Sign of the Times - Grow and Friday Bench: The Perfect Commute 
• Stephen Studd Photography - Are You Sitting Comfortably?
• Sue's Bluebell Cottage Gardens and Nursery Blog - Plant List for Malvern Show
• Tales from Awkward Hill - RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2015
• The Enduring Gardener - The Marvels of Malvern
• The Room Outside - Malvern Spring Festival 2015 and The Main Show Gardens
• Veg Plotting - Mediterranean Malvern
• Vergette Gardens - Looking at Malvern 2015

The Autumn show is on September 26 and 27th - see you there?

Wordless Wednesday: I See You Baby

THE Plant of This Year's Show?

At every garden show there's always one plant which flies off the stands to feature prominently in lots of bags and trolleys. Yesterday at Malvern was no exception.

This is Fatsia japonica 'Spider's Web', which displayed itself to perfection in the Floral Marquee on a dull and rainy day. Even I succumbed as I have just the spot in the garden which needs a lift via some lighter foliage. The person in the queue behind me was also buying this plant and the person behind her said:
'Gosh it's real, I thought it was plastic!'

It wasn't to everyone's taste* - I could tell by the look on Victoria's face she didn't like it. However, I was called over excitedly by the volunteers on the RHS stand who all demanded to know the identity of the plant in my bag. Also Claudia de Yong's designer's eye could see the possibilities for a shady spot.

Variegated plants have a reputation for reverting back to green when placed in the shade. I've been assured that this shouldn't happen - I'll be reporting back to Claudia on how this plant fares in my garden.

* = see this article by Geoff Stebbings - I can see his point re the foliage resembling red spider mite damage. I usually don't go for variegated foliage myself, but I can see how my purchase can work in the spot I have in mind for it.

Other blog posts:

• Veg Plotting has a show overview
• Helen has a thorough look at the nurseries, plus her personal experiences of AGS showing and helping on the Avon Bulbs stand
• Ann has put together a two page journal with plenty of snippets about the show
• Sign of the Times has a poignant message from one of the schools gardens
• The Cynical Gardener shows off her haul from the Floral Marquee
• Naturally, the other blog dedicated to Malvern has a few things to say on the subject (work back from this link to find plenty of other posts about this year's show)
• I'll add further links from other attendees as and when I find them. Let me know about yours in the comments below

Yesterday at Malvern...

Other posts:

Lack-A-Daisy - We Avoided the Nut That Crashed to the Ground but was it a Golden Day?
Patient Gardener - My First Show Entry and Malvern Show Gardens
Sign of the Times - Friday Bench: Heucheraholics and Reposer Vos Roues
Veg Plotting - Waving Goodbye to the Pleiones

And last but not least, Ann has continued with her Malvern Jotter throughout the show's duration.

See you there?

This year the Malvern Spring Show is from the 9th to 12th of May.

I'm currently planning on being there on Thursday if you fancy joining me. Nothing fancy like 2010 this time mind, I'm just planning on having a jolly time and the chance for a chat ;)

Ann Somerset Miles is doing a sterling job blogging in the run up to the show, so that's a must-see destination for planning your visit this year :)

See you there?

News of This Year's Spring Show

The Malvern Spring Show is set for a bumper edition this year, with Carol Klein set to join James in the Plants and People Arena on Friday and Saturday. Joe Swift will be also there on Saturday as usual, despite the show garden build at Chelsea kicking off a few days before Malvern commences.

Allotments get a feature to themselves - hosted by Terry Walton and Reg Moules and there's over 100 exhibitors in the Floral Marquee with many more set to join them in the outdoor sales area.

On the show gardens side of things Chris Beardshaw has designed a feature to celebrate 30 years of Groundwork and is supporting the new Painting with Plants initiative. Another Chelsea show garden designer taking some time out for Malvern!

I'm hoping to be there on Thursday and possibly Friday or Saturday. It all depends on how family matters pan out over the next few weeks...

Painting With Plants

Bryan's Ground - during 2011's Malvern Spring Show

This year saw the end of the Chris Beardshaw Mentorship. However, that doesn't mean his involvement with the Malvern Spring Show will be ending. Yesterday a new show feature Painting With Plants was announced with Chris very much to the fore. As he's also returning to Chelsea with a show garden next year, for him May will certainly be busy!

10 borders will be displayed, each inspired by a painting, photograph or a landscape. I was certainly inspired by Bryan's Ground earlier this year, which very much has an artistic feel to it, so who knows perhaps it might also feature at the show next year? The border will be purely plants - no hardscaping -so it'll be interesting to see what each entrant comes up with.

This new initiative is designed to put the focus on community groups, schools and charities and the top three designs will each receive a prize of £1,000 for their nominated good cause. Have a look at the explanatory letter and entry form if you think this is for you.

Harvest Time at Malvern

The Malvern Autumn Show is always a celebration of harvest time, particularly the local cider apples and perry pears like those in the picture. Did you know the Three Counties Showground has the national collection of perry pears? I must try to find them. If you're staying in the area, you might like to follow this cider and perry trail :)

The show starts next Saturday and already Deb Bird is hard at work putting together her next show garden which like the others will have an edible theme. Thank goodness all of them will be in a tent, seeing some more miserable weather is forecast for the next couple of days!

Currently I'm not sure if I'll be at the show owing to family commitments. However, Ann Somerset Miles will be blogging live from the event (probably in her many blogging guises!) and Mark Diacono is firmly part of the weekend's programme. With Deb in attendance too (do go and say hello!), it looks like there's plenty of opportunity for an informal get together over the weekend. I'll round up any posts I find afterwards, and fingers crossed I get to see you there.

Do let me know if you're going (and the day) and I'll put up a list below, so you can keep an eye out for each other...

Update - here's the posts I've found so far:
Ann Somerset Miles with her Dobies hat on ;)
Patient Gardener
The Inelegant Gardener

PlantPassion was also there (no blog post as yet) and several from UK Veg Gardeners.

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.

Postcard From Malvern

Atomic physics meets the Wicker Man: just one of the many contrasts to be seen at this year's Malvern Spring Gardening Show.

It's a fantastic show this year and I've had excellent company over the past few days to take it all in. I have a more extensive post over at Friday's The Guardian Gardening Blog which was sent in direct from the showground :)

I'm collecting together everyone else's posts [there's some absolute corkers - Ed] and will update this post with a round up for you via Mr Linky very soon. Update 17/5: Mr Linky is here! Do add your post about Malvern if I haven't already :)

Update 26/8: The picture heading this post is now playing on the Wicker Man website as part of their 2011 Sculpture slideshow :)

Note: Ann Somerset Miles deserves a gold medal for not only blogging on 4 different blogs, but also blogging on each one for 4 days from the show!

Where Shall We Meet?

There's around 25-30 of us going to the show this year, mainly on the Thursday and Friday. As I warned at the beginning of the year, Helen and I simply haven't had to do much in the way of organising things like we did last year. A more informal meeting worked in September, so here's hoping it works again in a few days time.

Besides, the show is HUGE, so you'll need oodles of time to get around it all and make the most of the day.

We don't have our own meeting place this year, so there's no central place where you can be assured another friendly face will turn up and see you there. Last September the Design Theatre turned into the natural meeting place and looking at the weather forecast for later this week, it seems the Garden in Harmony Theatre will perform the same function this time.

I'm there on the Thursday and Saturday and I'll make sure I'm around at 3.30pm just inside the tent door on the right as you face the stage if you'd like to come and say hello. If it's hot and sunny, I'll be in the same spot, but outside!

I've contacted TCAS to see if there's somewhere we can leave messages - I'll let you know if I find out anything. Otherwise, do DM me on @Malvernmeet or email me at Malvernmeet at gmail dot com if you'd like to arrange something more definite. Please keep this to the pm - I hardly saw anything of the show last year and I'd like to this time!

From Paper to the Eve of the Build: Keni Lee's Second Installment

Here's the second installment of Keni Lee's guest post on his design submission for the Chris Beardshaw Mentorship Scholarship (CBMS)...

About the garden

The 'Atom' theme was chosen by the CBMS team in conjunction with this year's UNESCO year of Chemistry. My design was inspired partly by the metaphysical understanding of atoms by the 5th century BC Chinese philosopher, Laozi; and partly by the convergence of Newtonian- and quantum-mechanical understanding of atoms. The latter is guided mainly by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which basically states that matter can exist both as a particle and a wave. This is reflected in the garden by contrasting features of rock vs water and circle vs angles. This bridges well with the central principles of daodejing, the defining work by Laozi. Many in the world would recognise his work via the infamous “ying-yang” concept. However, the daodejing is more profound than this. In one of its passages (Chapter 42), it stated "Dao begets one; one begets two; two begets three; three begets all things". In modern interpretation, this "trinity of pure things" can be recognised as "proton, electron and neutron", the building blocks of life on Earth. It is interesting to note that the trinity concept is also prevalent in the Christian faith.

As one can see, the unifying concept across both the scientific and metaphysical view of atoms can be brought together by this "trinity of pure things". This unifying concept is reflected by the presence of all features of my garden in sets of three.

Building the garden and my personal take of things so far

From the moment I first sketched my first draft design up to very recently, I had no idea that building a garden would cost so much and that it would involve so many factors such as plants availability and resource availability. I think I have learnt more about project management than garden design in these past few months leading to the build. The odd thing is, I enjoyed every single second of it. The pressure is omnipresent and sometimes you just want to give up. But I have decided to dedicate this garden to my late father, so throwing down the towel is not an option for me. In many ways, the garden reflects my relationship with my father. My father has always been very proud of his Chinese roots, whilst appreciative of my Western perspective of things in life. Seeing the world from these two very perspectives can be both frustrating and enriching at the same time, a sentiment that I wish to portray in my design.

Schedule-wise, the construction will begin on the 18th of April. Due to difficulties in securing leave from my work, I have had to schedule the build in a staggered manner. For the 1st week, my partner will begin the building of the hard landscaping features. Hopefully, all major work would be done by then. During the 2nd week, I have to unfortunately fly to Shanghai for business, and my partner will be flown to Berlin for work too. So build will only continue on the 3rd week, unless I can find volunteers to help with the build. I am trying to get help from friends, but it's difficult when your friends are scattered in the four corners of the globe, and families are thousands of miles away. I will be onsite full time from the 29th April.

Final words

I hope this account shed some light into my thoughts and what the garden mean to me. Designing is such a personal experience that it is sometimes challenging to convey emotion or ideas in words. I hope that the finish garden will be a success and that visitors to my garden will appreciate the finer details weaved into the garden. Please feel free to comment if you have any thoughts or feedback or advice, I will be delighted to hear from you.

Thanks Keni for giving us such a personal and great insight into the challenges faced when designing and building a show garden. I'm sure the project management and problem solving experience you've gained are just as important as the show garden itself.

Today is the start of the second week of the build at Malvern folks and it's been hot and thirsty work so far. Do keep an eye on Keni's progress via his blog.

NB Design images are courtesy of TCAS and NOT available under a Creative Commons licence.

From Laozi to Heisenberg – The Making Of

The show garden build begins today and Keni Lee has kindly agreed to guest blog for Meet @ Malvern to give us an insight of what it's like. Today he tells us a little about himself and takes us up to the point of the acceptance of his design...

Preamble

For this year’s Malvern Spring Gardening Show, I will be building a show garden under the auspice of the Chris Beardshaw Mentoring Scholarship (CBMS) programme. This short article tells the story of how and why I got involved, as well as describing the underlying principles of my garden.

About me and why on earth am I building a show garden at Malvern

I am originally from Malaysia but grew up in various countries around the globe, including France and Japan. I have a PhD in Chemistry from France and currently work in healthcare PR in London. I speak fluent French, Mandarin, Cantonese and Malay; and English I suppose. Other than being a very serious amateur gardener for the past few years, I have no formal training in horticulture or garden design. Having said that, I am pretty good in botany (as part of my undergraduate studies) and bonsai cultivation.

Since moving to England, I have been inspired by the British healthy obsession with all things nature and gardening. An obsession that is unique amongst other European countries that I am familiar with. Having lived in one of West Sussex great gardens (Nymans), I was motivated to get into garden design/horticulture. By pure chance, I stumbled upon a website with a link to the CBMS less than a week before its deadline. My initial thought was that if I win the competition, this would be a very good indication that I may have a little bit of talent in this profession.

So I sketched a few drawings and sent them through. I was delighted when I was informed that my design has been shortlisted and I would proceed to the next few stages of the competition. However, within days, I received news that my father died, and I had to fly back to Malaysia for the funeral during the crucial few weeks when the subsequent rounds of the scholarship selection process took place. The organising committee was very kind with me and allowed me to extend a few of their deadlines. Eventually, and to my great surprise, I got in and my design was selected as one of the finalists.

Thanks Keni - the next installment takes us up to the eve of the start of the build. If you can't wait to know more, Keni also has his own blog all about this show garden...

Green Shoots for the Spring Show

You don't need to worry about getting there just yet, but already bloggers are making their plans to attend this year's show...

Malvern Spring Show may seem like it's far away, but already the PR team are hard at work to tell us about the 'green shoots' they have planned for this year. I'll be back shortly with a revamped Meet @ Malvern site to tell you more about what's happening here on the blogging front. In the meantime, sit back and have a look at Sharon Gilbert's recent press release...

For the first time ever, the Malvern Spring Gardening Show (12-15 May 2011) is dedicating its entire theatre programme to the subject of conserving the natural environment, and will be showing green-fingered visitors how small changes in the way they garden, can make a significant impact on local, and ultimately global, diversity.

The new ‘Garden in Harmony Theatre’ boasts two walk-through gardens designed by 2010 Chris Beardshaw Mentoring Scholarship winner, Paul Hervey-Brookes. The ‘In Flight Garden’ is a pocket space of valuable wildlife habitats and native species, and the ‘Companion Garden’ is an area of pest-repellent, companion planting.

Television gardener and designer, James Alexander-Sinclair is the host for an exciting four-day programme of talks and demonstrations from a star-studded line-up of respected gardeners, wildlife enthusiasts and industry experts, speaking about subjects ranging from log hotels, compost cafes, natural predators, habitat creation and rain gardens.

Matthew Wilson (Landscape Man, Channel 4) and herb expert Jekka McVicar are heading up the discussion panel on Thursday May 12, and talking about rain gardens and integrated pest management respectively.

On Friday May 13, ‘Biodiversity – What, Why and How?’ is the subject of a talk by award-winning garden designer and television presenter, Chris Beardshaw, and on the same day, Kim Hurst of The Cottage Herbery, will demonstrate organic and natural planting.

Joe Swift (BBC Gardeners’ World) takes to the stage on Saturday 14 to explain how even the smallest urban garden can work in harmony with the natural environment, without compromising on beauty and style, and Brigit Strawbridge and Tony Grey will be talking about wild bees, beekeeping and the importance of pollination and planting.

The RSPB will also be at the Show on Saturday with its Garden Bird Roadshow.

Mike Dilger (‘Wild Gardens’, ‘Springwatch’ and ‘The ONE Show’) makes his Malvern debut on Saturday and Sunday 14 and 15, with a look at garden wildlife and natural predators. He will also lead a new Showground nature trail for children and adults, which will take in foraging, pond dipping and habitats.

Said Sharon Gilbert, Press & PR Manager for the Showground: “The programme of global conservation agreed at the UN Convention on Biodiversity in Nagoya last year was a great breakthrough in the fight to protect our natural environment.

Gardening is one area where the general public can do its bit to preserve and create habitats, plant native species, compost waste, garden organically and dig ponds. It might be small scale, but it all contributes to the global effort, and events like ours must get behind the initiative, keep up the momentum and promote the message to as many people as possible.

We are very excited by the prospect of dedicating this year’s theatre programme to such an important subject, and hope that Britain’s gardeners will use some of the ideas they glean from the speakers to make a few small changes at home.”

Postcard from Malvern Autumn Show

So I lied when I said the previous post was the last one of 2010 didn't I? I'm sure you don't mind another one though to bring together our gathering at the Malvern Autumn Show yesterday. It was an informal affair, mainly garnered from people tweeting they were going. So many, that I couldn't bear to miss out on all the fun. The weather was kinder than in May - clear blue skies, sunshine, but with distictly autumnal undertones. The show's improved since my last September visit 2 years ago as there was much more horticultural content this time round. Helen's already given some of the highlights in her report and I'll be making mine tomorrow.

Here's the rollcall of who went - links to their reports to follow as and when appropriate.

• Deb - Beholder's Eye (who has tweeted pictures here and here)
• James - Blogging from Blackpitts Garden (sitting in the audience for once! Read his perambulations on the subject of Malvern here)
• Ann - Grandma's Garden (a show preview plus introducing the new Red Love apple - spotted, but didn't get there in time to say hello which was a pity)
• Nick - Habitat Aid (who reveals he'll be exhibiting next year)
• Sharon - The Inelegant Gardener (her confession re not liking show chrysanthemums rather gave the game away - it's shame we missed you too. And here's another post)
• Mark - Otter Farm (here's his post from the showman's viewpoint)
• Helen - Patient Gardener (her general report is here and another is planned I believe)
• Simon - Serendipity
• Nigel - Silvertreedaze (oh no! another one who slipped my net, but thankfully not Sharon's)
• Claire - The Ecospot
• Me - Veg Plotting (where I found A Taste of the Unexpected)
• Michelle - Veg to Veg

If you attended over the weekend and I haven't mentioned you, or if better still you blogged about it, do let me know and I'll add you to the list.

The picture is of some rather nice pears from the perry pear exhibit in the Good Life Pavilion.

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 :)