My flower show season always ends at Malvern but little did I think as 2020 started that it would be the only show I went to this year. With everything else cancelled, the Malvern Plant & Garden Fair was a welcome taste of normality.
Except it wasn’t the familiar normal. This was a reworked version of the usual Malvern Autumn Show, shaped by Covid restrictions and assembled in just weeks by the determined Three Counties team, most of them coming back part-time from furlough.
The most obvious difference came in the scale: visitor numbers were sharply restricted and the early bird entry reduced those to just 500 for the first hour-and-a-half.
There were no vintage machines, cars, animals or the familiar giant veg contest. Instead, this was very much just nurseries and a few associated stands.
These were spread out over the showground with the nurseries having individual ‘tents’ in place of the usual floral marquee. There were hand sanitiser stations everywhere and staff wiping down tables.
Did it work? Absolutely! Quite apart from giving ample space to allow for social distancing, the gathering of the bulk of the nurseries around an area of grass gave an traditional plant fair feel to the event.
Unlike the usual floral marquee stands, most of the nurseries didn’t have a ‘garden-type’ display, the sort that’s usually judged. One or two put together a small exhibit but the majority just had plants set out to sell.
It gave the Malvern Plant & Garden Fair a feeling of getting back to the essentials – plants and the chance to talk to the people that grow them without any other distractions.
I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview as the nurseries were setting up on Friday and had the chance to talk to them about how the year had gone.
Some, such as Vicky and Richard Fox from heuchera specialists Plantagogo had got through lockdown and the cancellation of shows thanks to their mail order business.
Fibrex Nurseries were another that were glad they had been able to post out plants – their amusingly named pelargonium collections were particularly popular – while Hardy’s Cottage Plants had been so busy they’d had to take on six temporary staff to cope.
“It’s been difficult just keeping up with orders,” Rob Hardy told me.
Stella Exley from Hare Spring Cottage Plants was using the fair to sell camassia collections that had been planned for Chelsea along with other perennials.
Pheasant Acre Plants’ stand had its usual range of colourful dahlias and plenty of tubers to buy.
Owner Rob Evans welcomed the new style show: “It’s wonderful. We should do it more often.
“It usually takes me about 18 hours to do a display of gladioli and dahlias so it makes a huge difference having people coming to see a plant fair rather than us worrying about a display and what the judges are going to say.”
Those nurseries who don’t have a mail order business have had a tough year. Craig House Cacti can sell only seed, plant food and cultivation booklets as they don’t have a large stock of many of their rare plants.
“We can’t put things on the website as we’d have to be updating it all the time,” explained Vicki Newman.
So, the Malvern Plant & Garden Fair was an unexpected bonus for them.
In true Malvern fashion, there were a number of talks with familiar guests, including Carol Klein and celebrity florist Jonathan Moseley.
The talks took place in the ‘Picnic Theatre’ with visitors sat at well-spaced picnic tables rather than in the usual rows of chairs.
The stage, decorated by Jamie Butterworth, featured artwork by Kate Rees, who worked with Sebastian Conrad on last spring’s gold medal-winning garden at Malvern. There were also some pots making their flower show debut.
Torc Pots, from Jersey, use a form of fibre glass and concrete, and produce very eye-catching large pots.
“Additives make it very clay-like so they can be turned on a wheel,” explained Hylton Hugo, who began making the pots as a hobby.
Making them by hand means no two are exactly alike.
Being a September event there were, naturally, plenty of bulbs for sale with Harts Nursery’s stand among those offering a tempting display.
There were also plenty of unusual and interesting plants to see and every stand was worth closer inspection.
And although the giant veg may have been missing, Robinson Seeds and Plants did put on a small display of beautiful produce.
As well as being a welcome relief from months without shows, the Malvern Plant & Garden Fair was in some ways a dry run for what may be possible for the RHS Malvern Spring Fair. If restrictions are still necessary, running something along the same lines is a distinct possibility – and a welcome one to many I spoke to.
“I think the fair’s been absolutely great,” said Jonathan Moseley. “It’s like being swept back to the quintessential elements of what a flower show should be about – plants and a good dose of information, which a quality show should always deliver.”
For me, it was the atmosphere that was special – relaxed, happy and above all one of relief that at last we could meet over a plant pot.
Top picture: Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ and Salvia ‘Dayglow’ on W&S Lockyer’s display.
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It sounds brilliant, and definitely the way to go! As someone who works for a Nursery who usually put a huge effort and expense into staging exhibits – this is a great way forward. All credit to Nina and all at The Three Counties for going where the RHS haven’t dared to tread!
It was really good but then Malvern always is. I think they are lucky to have such a large space. I’m not sure it would work at Chelsea unless they really restricted the numbers of both visitors and exhibitors.
Well done the staff at Malvern for giving both the trade and public a little cheer in these difficult times. However this was not a show as we knew it but a plant fair. It may have to be a way forward for now as it seems the trade will move to online sales if there is nowhere else to go and some are seeing that this is perhaps giving a better lifestyle than travelling around the country for 6 months of the year.. The RHS and other show organisers must attempt to keep the public interested in attending shows by holding such events, perhaps for longer periods to cope with reduced daily numbers or in the case of the RHS it may be a members only event. Not holding some sort of event on a regular basis could spell the end of shows as we knew them.
I agree, I think shows face a difficult future. However, I believe the hope is that the Malvern Spring Festival will be run along the same lines, across five days to ensure access to as many people as possible. I think the team are hoping to have the usual show gardens and more talks. While I believe online sales will grow, there are some nurseries, such as Craig House Cacti, for whom this is extremely difficult. I also think there’s nothing quite like seeing the plants you want to buy and being able to chat with the people who have grown them. Many of the nurseries I spoke to are planning to ‘choose’ which shows to go to rather than attend all of them. As you say, the show season can be gruelling for small nursery teams. It will be interesting to see what the RHS do at Chelsea.
Indeed it will be interesting to see what happens about Chelsea, but unless anything changes drastically how on earth can it go ahead? If they have to cut the numbers, it won’t be financially viable – and we all know how crowded it is! I think it will be more Plant Fairs like Malvern for the foreseeable future
The added problem with Chelsea is decisions had to be made about show gardens in July. I’m not sure anyone was in a position to commit to them at that stage. As you say, I think this could be the way things will go for the foreseeable although I think the Malvern team are keen to get more content than just a plant fair. This was very much a ‘dry run’ to see how it worked.