Take a look at the beautiful displays in the Floral Marquee at the 2018 RHS Malvern Spring Festival.
The Floral Marquee at a RHS Show is a paradise of colour and fragrance. It’s absolutely heaven for anyone who loves flowers, plants and gardening.
Whenever I visit a garden show, I always find it hard to choose which displays to cover here on the blog. And some of my favourites turn up at a lot of the shows that I go to.
Click here to take a look at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival Show Gardens
So in this post, I’ve tried to pick out some growers who haven’t been featured in my previous write ups.
But all of the stands that I saw were absolutely gorgeous, and all of them were competing for RHS medals. These are awarded in Gold, Silver-Gilt, Silver and Bronze standards.
Click here to visit the RHS website
And one grower was singled out for special attention, as the RHS Master Grower for the Malvern show.
So here are some of my favourite displays from the RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2018, and keep reading to see the Floral Marquee on video!
Blom’s Bulbs
One grower that I don’t remember seeing at other shows is Blom’s Bulbs.
And I’m sure that I would have remembered if I’d seen them before, because the Blom’s Bulbs stand took my breath away with its beautiful display of brightly coloured tulips.
I particularly love these bright yellow tulips, which are aptly named Olympic Flame.
From every angle, the stand was covered in pots of perfect tulips of every shade imaginable, it really was breathtaking. It’s no surprise that Blom’s Bulbs were awarded a Gold medal by the RHS judges.
Summerdale Garden Nursery
Meanwhile, the Summerdale Garden Nursery stand was filled with delicate primulas like these beautiful Primula japonica ‘Apple Blossom’.
They look so pretty, and a complete contrast to the big bold tulips above.
They were displayed in a woodland type setting with lots of gorgeous ferns. Primula japonica, or Japanese primrose, will grow well in part-shady areas, so I’m very tempted to add some of these to the shaded areas at the bottom of my garden.
And aren’t these pretty? They’re a little Chinese primula called Primula maximowiczii, which have an unusual funnel shaped flower.
Summerdale Garden Nursery also received a Gold medal from the RHS judges.
Avon Bulbs – RHS Master Grower
One grower is singled out for special attention at each of the RHS Flower Shows throughout the year.
The RHS Master Grower for the Malvern Spring Festival 2018 was Avon Bulbs. They have been based in Somerset for over 30 years, and specialise in bulbs that are hard to track down in garden centres.
Their displays have consistently won RHS Gold Medals at both RHS Malvern and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
This year’s stand included tulips, irises, narcissus, alliums and other spring flowers in every colour.
Cooks Garden Centre
The Cooks Garden Centre stand had a particularly romantic feel, as it was themed around a Spring wedding breakfast.
Hydrangeas are a classic flowering shrub that you can see blossoming in gardens throughout the summer and into autumn. And a delicate white Hydrangea (Hydrangea Runaway Bride Snow White) was also picked as Plant of the Year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
The Cooks Garden Centre display was packed with frothy Hydrangea in a range of pastel hues, and it won a Silver-Gilt medal.
National Sweet Pea Society
The Floral Marquee was filled with the beautiful scent of Sweet Peas, thanks to the National Sweet Pea Society, who won a Gold medal for this display.
Sweet peas are a very popular flower, and they’re really easy to grow from seed. And that makes them ideal if you’re just taking your first steps in gardening.
Society members were on hand with advice on how to grow and display these pretty flowers for maximum impact.
But you don’t need to be an expert in flower arranging to make the most of sweet peas as cut flowers. I think this little posy in a jam jar looks beautiful!
Weird Plants by Gill
If you don’t have a great record with houseplants, how about trying your hand with these fabulous Tillandsia, or air plants.
They are from Weird Plants by Gill, and I think they look stunning!
They absorb water and nutrients from the air, and don’t need potting soil like regular houseplants. A quick misting of water a few times a week, or a good soaking once a week, is all they will need.
I’m very tempted to add some of these easy-care plants to my office at home. I love the way they’ve been displayed here!
Weird Plants by Gill won a Silver-Gilt medal at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2018.
Pheasant Acre Plants
More gorgeous spring flowering bulbs, and this time they are from the Pheasant Acre Plants stand.
Unfortunately I broke one of my own rules, and failed to take a note of the name of these beautiful fringed tulips. I think they might be Tulip ‘Lemon Flight’ but I’m not 100% sure.
But I do know that these gorgeous frilled tulips are called ‘New Santa’. And I think they’re stunning!
The Pheasant Acre Plants stand also had plenty of brightly coloured Hippeastrum on display. And they were rewarded by the RHS judges with a Silver-Gilt medal.
Drointon Nurseries
And finally, a beautiful display of Primula Auricula from Drointon Nurseries, which won a Gold medal.
They have an amazing 1200+ different cultivars in their collection, although they limit the selection on their website to just 300-400.
One of my favourites was this pretty light-centred Alpine called Primula auricula ‘Sophie’. But the colour and variety of Auricula on this stand is just amazing – I can see how people get hooked on collecting them!