Flower show nursery displays are always a highlight and the RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2022 didn’t let me down. Plenty of colour and lots to see, it is definitely one of the best elements of the event.
As the first big RHS show of the year, Malvern is often somewhere that nurseries try out displays ahead of the world stage that is the Chelsea Flower Show.
Neil and Niamh Jones of The Kitchen Garden Plant Centre are making their Chelsea debut later this month (postponed from 2020) and a bigger version of their display of herbs and other edibles will be on show.
“It’s good to get a dry run at a local show and Malvern is amazing,” said Neil, who has wanted to exhibit at Chelsea for many years.
Their display showcases edibles for all aspects – North and South, dry and wet – and includes some more unusual things. The South African rosemary caught my eye. The seedheads looked like masses of cotton wool.
Green JJam Nursery fresh from their triple gold medal run last year, including for their Chelsea debut, are trying something different at Malvern. Instead of their usual display of hybrid penstemon mixed with perennials they are concentrating on the species penstemon, such as Penstemon confertus.
Julia Mitchell explained that it was always a struggle to get penstemon into flower for the early May show so they’d decided to try the species penstemon, which flower a bit sooner.
They are planning to be at Chelsea next year showing off their White Nursery plants and then in 2024 will take the species penstemon to Chelsea.
A talking point on their display this week were a couple of the new ‘Dakota’ penstemon, which are closely related to the species. The dark leaves on ‘Dakota Burgundy’ were particularly good. Julia is hoping to have some available next year.
The Master Grower at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2022 is Pheasant Acre Plants and they have a fabulous display of tulips along with boards and video that tell the story of the nursery.
Setting a bud of ‘Marilyn’ against the fully opened flower to show how it changes was a particularly neat trick. I remember being a bit disconcerted the first time I grew this lovely tulip to get yellow buds with a pink stripe – they quickly turn creamy white.
Avon Bulbs are another Malvern stalwart and their display is its usual mix of beautiful bulbs in vibrant colours.
Harriet’s Plants has a bold display using masses of this oxalis with its very striking leaves. The Lichfield nursery grows mainly houseplants (the oxalis can be grown outdoors as well) and they are all raised peat and chemical-free.
It’s the nursery’s first RHS show but I expect to be seeing much more of them.
Lincolnshire Pond Plants have created a large raised pond for their exhibit with marginals on an ‘island’ and aquatic plants in the water.
Forget-me-nots are a common garden plant but I hadn’t seen an aquatic variety before.
Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants has its trademark mix of interesting perennials – I’ve always loved this veronica.
There is certainly no walking past the stand of Keith Partingon Premier Alpines – just look at the colour on that calceolaria!
There are several stands with clematis, all tempted me to add more to the garden. This was a pretty one on the Thorncroft Clematis Nursery display that I hadn’t seen before.
Hoyland Plant Centre has beautiful agapanthus and nerines. I watched Steve Hickman putting the finishing touches to the display and he showed me how he ‘unhooked’ each nerine bud to get it to open.
As well as temptation, the RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2022 also had many reminders of my gardening failings.
I’ve never managed to keep steptocarpus – one of my many houseplant failures – but the Dibleys Nurseries stand almost made me consider trying again.
I won’t be tempted by delphiniums though – I have far too many slugs and snails. The display by Home Farm Plants is stunning and also explains how to propagate them.
And apart from one in a pot, I don’t grow camellias as my soil isn’t right. Strete Gate Camellias have about 500 different varieties and are displaying the beautiful flowers in bowls of water.
Finally, I think this on the alpine display summed up RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2022 for exhibitors and visitors alike – hooray, we’re back!
You can read my round-up of the RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2022 gardens here.
(The top feature picture is from W&S Lockyer’s display. I always love their lupins.)
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