Today marks the launch of the RHS Show season across the UK, the much-anticipated start of RHS Malvern Spring Festival at Three Counties Showground in Malvern, Worcestershire, running until Sunday 12th May.
Boasting eight newly-created show gardens, alongside a brand-new feature garden, this year’s festival has a theme of Gardening For Change giving a platform to planet-friendly gardening as well as it’s benefits on communities and wellbeing.
RHS Malvern celebrates two RHS Gold Medals this year, one has been awarded to Michael Lote from MJL Garden Design for It doesn’t Have to Cost the Earth. This garden, designed for a professional couple, passionate about gardening, takes inspiration from beautiful recycled and innovative sustainable materials.
Michael commented, “I’m really happy with the award, it was completely unexpected, so I’m over the moon.”
Also of the award-winning designers for 2024 is Mark Draper from Graduate Gardeners Ltd, who scooped up an RHS Gold Medal for The Cotswold Garden, created to celebrate Graduate Gardener’ 50th anniversary in 2024 and reflecting their work in the Cotswolds using sympathetic materials.
Mark said, “We’re absolutely delighted to get the gold medal, which is what we were aiming for, and we’ve got Best in Show and the Construction Award so we’ve got the hattrick, it’s fantastic! Getting the Construction Award, particularly for the lads involved in building the garden, is a real tribute to the hard work they’ve put into the build, so overall we are absolutely delighted.”
David Wyndam Lewis was awarded a Silver-Gilt for Perennial’s The Laskett – An Autobiographical Garden, a beautiful space representing the essence of the Laskett Garden in Spring, with woodland planting and a central path drawing the eye toward the focal feature, the iconic Victoria and Albert Temple.
The second Silver-Gilt was taken by Ian McBain, with Concrete 2.0, supported by Red Rhino Crushers and build by Pickwell Paving. The garden showcases the use of sustainable and reclaimed materials, making use of cement-free concrete and recycled aggregates and emphasizing responsible water management with surface water captured by the studio roof used to feed water features and rainwater returning directly to the ground via wide channels of loose recycled aggregate.
Gloucestershire-based designer Laura Ashton-Phillips took Silver for Eat, Drink and be Rosemary, a garden designed for a young, environmentally-conscious family designed with zero wastage in mind.
The Show Gardens are the star of the show, alongside the stupendous Floral Marquee, a pioneering plant friendly zone, the brand-new Fire & Feast Stage and Tips & Tricks Theatre, plus the very best celebrity speakers, workshops and demonstrations.
 | Tickets for RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2024 start from just £25 (with under 16s free of charge). For full programme details and to book tickets, see https://www.rhsmalvern.co.uk/ |
