RHS Malvern Spring Festival at Three Counties Showground in Malvern, Worcestershire (Thursday 7th – Sunday 10th May), marks the launch of the 2026 RHS Show season across the UK, expected to welcome over 90,000 visitors across the four days.Boasting six show gardens, three unique feature gardens, the return of the RHS-judged Indoor Plant Gardens, and the introduction of two brand-new categories for 2026: ‘Blooming Borders’ and ‘Floral Tablescaping’.
The 2026 Festival theme, Roots of the Future – Honour the past, grow the future, looks to celebrate both the rich traditions of gardening and horticulture, passed on over hundreds of years, whilst encouraging and inspiring the next generation into horticulture and welcoming essential innovations, such as climate-resilient design and biodiversity, as well as prioritising soil health. The festival welcomed back familiar faces from the horticultural world, including Alan Titchmarsh CBE, Monty Don OBE, Frances Tophill, Adam Frost and Sue Kent, to share their experience and gardening traditions and discuss how modern innovations can work alongside traditions to honour the past, while growing the future.
RHS Malvern Spring Festival has a long-standing reputation as the trailblazer of the RHS Floral Show season, leading the way in cutting-edge horticultural design, the latest gardening developments and trends, showcasing both creative and practical ways to incorporate the many benefits of horticulture into our lives.
Medals and Awards at RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2026
Show Gardens
Best Show Garden:
ONE by Midlands-based Ian McBain, Tythorne Garden Design (built by Pickwell Paving)
Inspired by the 8 million people living alone in the UK, the garden encourages visitors to rethink traditional approaches to gardening, showing how sustainable materials and unconventional construction can successfully shape small, meaningful domestic gardens which can be easily managed and enjoyed by those living alone.
Best Construction for a Show Garden:
The Blessings from the Sea – designed by Eun Kyung Jung, Heehyeok Kang, and Jaeheon Kim on behalf of Chollipo Arboretum and built by JG Landscaping.
The garden’s creative use of sustainable materials, including roof tiles made from 176 recycled safety helmets and mother-of-pearl accents from waste seashells, add to the garden’s green credentials.
Gold medals:
ONE by Midlands-based Ian McBain, Tythorne Garden Design (built by Pickwell Paving)
Lifted by Birds, designed by Tom Saunders, Jon Pilling and Amie Wheeldon
A nature-rich garden designed to support British birdlife. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has supported the designers as they incorporated spaces for birds to feed, nest, rest and move safely, while also offering visitors a place to pause and notice the wildlife around them.
Silver-Gilt medals:
Pressed in Time: Nature’s Memory by Lora Peneva from West Sussex (sponsored by Studio Wald)
A contemplative, calm show garden that takes the visitor on a journey showcasing the beauty of flowers in both their living and preserved state – inspired by the art of flowering pressing.
Silver medals:
The Blessings from the Sea – designed by Eun Kyung Jung, Heehyeok Kang, and Jaeheon Kim on behalf of Chollipo Arboretum, and built by JG Landscaping
Bronze medals:
The Crafted Garden designed and built by Jamie Dobinson of Crafted Landscapes from East Sussex
Designed in response to a changing climate, the garden explores how woodland landscapes can adapt to warmer temperatures, heavier rainfall, and longer periods of drought, while continuing to support people and wildlife.
TÎR: A Welsh Landscape designed by Nick Anthony, The Garden Cambrica from Dyfed, Wales and built by Sam Rees, SCR Ponds and Landscaping from West Glamorgan, Wales
This show garden aims to demonstrate how high-quality gardens can be both aspirational and achievable, and how a strong visual identity, practical construction and thoughtful detailing can be applied to real-world garden settings.
Indoor Plant Gardens
Best Indoor Plant Garden:
Back to Grandma’s House by Alina Hibbert and Adam Critien from Avon (sponsored by JefferyRoss)
Built using recycled and upcycled materials, the design promotes affordable, sustainable living while highlighting the mental health benefits of bringing nature indoors.
Gold medals:
Back to Grandma’s House by Alina Hibbert and Adam Critien from Avon (sponsored by JefferyRoss)
The Scholar’s Jungle by Abbi Dixon, Botanic York
The design showcases how even small home offices can become restorative micro-forests that boost focus, health, and creativity.
Silver-Gilt medals:
The Science of Sustenance is designed by CANNA UK
The design invites visitors to rethink the role of plants indoors – not just as decorative, but as productive, edible and integrated into daily life, blurring the lines between kitchens, gardens and laboratories.
Dibleys Houseplant Sanctuary by Lynne Dibley, Dibleys Nurseries of Llanelidan in North Wales
The garden features around 350 plants, all grown at their nursery, including rare and colourful houseplants, showcasing their beauty and accessibility in a calm, tranquil way.
New Blooming Borders
Best Blooming Border:
After the Rain by Tomas Olesen (Oxford Garden Design)
A sculptural, atmospheric border that treats the landscape like a curated installation.
Silver Gilt medals:
A Beltane Border by Hinterland Studio & Faodail Landscapes
Stumped by Laura Ashton-Phillips (The Botanic Blonde)
Life on the Land by Madeline Mesias Landscape Design Studio
Reminders of Home Borders designed by Nikki Hollier (Borders in a Box)
Reflective Memories by Paul Nicholson
After the Rain by Tomas Olesen (Oxford Garden Design)
Silver medals:
Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder by Adam Marshall (Green Fingered City Boy)
The Borrowed Border by Darcy Owen-Towe, Earth to Darcy
Finding Balance by Megan Dodd (Megan Dodd Studio)
Bronze medals:
Primavera by Damien Michel
New Floral Tablescaping
Gold medals
At the Threshold: The Garden Comes to the Table by Ashley Edwards
This tablescape explores spring as a moment of transition; the point in the season when the garden is poised to burst into full growth.
Silver-Gilt medals
Wind In the Willows by Poppy Cottrell and Margaret Fox
This design focuses on nature and the promotion of preserving it through a ‘The Wind in the Willows’ riverside retreat design.
School Gardens Challenge
Best School Garden – The Wyvern, The Bridge School, Malvern
Best for Sustainability – Whispers of the Wye, Wye Forest Federation
Best Use of Colour – Mythical Plants and Where to Find Them, Pershore College, Warwickshire
Best Use of Recycling – Up the Airy Mountain, Down the Rushy Glen, Tudor Grange Academy, Worcester
Best Wildlife Garden – The Ladybird’s Path, Grace Kelly Childhood Trust, Worcester
Most Innovative Design – The Garden of Arthur, The River School, Worcester
 | For more information about this year’s RHS Malvern Spring Festival, see https://www.rhsmalvern.co.uk/ |
