Malvern Spring Gardening Show
By Sid
20 comments
Today I was at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show, which is relatively local for me. The wind dropped, the sun came out and it was a beautiful, warm day. And plants. There were lots and lots of plants. Hmmm – kid-in-a-sweetshop time for me!!
I thought the plants were generally quite expensive. I saw some tiny 1 year old Acers in 2in pots for £18!!!! Criky! Lots of plants did tempt me, including a few new varieties of Heuchera and different things, but in the end I was VERY good and only bought 4 plants ;-) Got an Astrantia, a Primula vialii, an Epimedium and a Lobelia cardinalis.
The first few show gardens I thought were a bit poor, so I’ve just uploaded photos of the good’uns. And I don’t think we’re too interested in the hardlandscaping either, so I’ve concentrated on the plants – well why not ;-)
A lot of dark colours were present – dark Heucheras were everywhere you looked! Also bright orange Geums seemed popular.
Well, I’ll stop yaking now and show you some pictures….
Sadly, the bearded irises in this garden had not come out in time. I noticed several of the gardens had had this problem. Also several had used tulips, which were looking tatty by now and one had used flowering cherries, which had completely gone over.
I thought this was a very good idea and was something that anybody might be able to knock up in some form or other for their garden.
I loved that Peony. Notice all the dark colours again in this – dark purple Phormiums and Heucheras.
This had a nice airy feel to it.
Now this was my favourite! Just my kind of garden – not too much thought given to colour theme, just a swathe of lovely jolly plants all jumbled up together :-)
I liked this plant combination – purple Alliums combined with an airy, bright green Euphorbia. There is also one of those cultivated purple cow parsley thingies in there, which looked great here.
Oh how I wanted one of these! Can you see what’s holding up the rock? Kids kept coming over and poking them to try to make them topple lol But they cost £75 each :-O
Look at all the pitchur plants!!! Never seen them used like this – almost like bedding! Are there enough flys to go around? lol
I do appologise for this picture – I always look a bit mad in photos lol What I was TRYING to do was to give some scale to the truly enormous Delph flowers.
This is Epimedium ‘Amber Queen’ – and I had to have her! She’s one of the plants I brought home with me ;-)
This Heuchera really caught my eye – one for the want list. I didn’t get one today because they were £8 and I thought that was too much for the relatively small plants. There was a stall dedicated to Heucheras outside, called ’Heucheraholics – good name! lol
Well, that concludes my Malvern Spring Gardening experience for another year. Hope you enjoyed my photos :-)
10 May, 2009
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Comments
Really great to see. Thank you!
10 May, 2009
I really enjoyed your blog Sid, Shame about some of the plants going over in the show gardens, but they were still Lovely, Some of the plants were Pricey, Acers in a 2" pot £18. Come on. and i wonder if anyone bought one of those rocks on a chain!!! But i thoroughly enjoyed my walk around with you...
PS i would of loved to see pics of the "poor" show garden's :)
10 May, 2009
Certainly did enjoy Sid,many thanks.........
10 May, 2009
~so how many of us were there over the weekend then~did anyone see anyone else or did we just pass like ships in the night?
Lovely Sid~we didn't see any of the show gardens as we decided to do everything else first and ran out of time, so glad to see them now.
However we did all the floral art and food and crafts which I really love~ must have taken about two hundred pics but don't want to bore you!
I do just love the flower arrangements~we were there ages!
Bought some alpines.some cacti a huge Dodecatheon for £6 a couple of camassias and a solomons seal~oh and a big bottle of Bruadur Whisky liqueur for hubby who does all the driving!
10 May, 2009
Great blog, we seem to have similar taste Sid, the number of photos I took that were the same as yours is incredible!
I only bought some lily bulbs (actually made a mistake as I fell for one flower and didn't realise they were giant tree lilies until later) and some poppies. I fell in love with a tree peony..... I would have bought one but then I learned the price - only £50!!!! Maybe next year!
10 May, 2009
Lovely blog Sid - lots of things to think about liked the giant veg cloche idea as you say this could be re created quite cheaply ..loved the Heuchera tiramisu but agree with the price being a bit steep ..yes rambling jumbled planting my ideal too.
10 May, 2009
Super pics there, Sid and lovely to see you.
Your Lobelia Cardinalis is one of my faves. Lucky you. I used to have a beautiful Queen Victoria but have nowhere suitable in this garden for one.
Loving that box garden too, lol.
10 May, 2009
Wonderful. Thanks for concentrating on the plants :o)
11 May, 2009
Great blog and beautiful photos. I like the stone balls more than the rocks on chains. Thanks.
11 May, 2009
Great pics from the day Sid.
I saw the £50 Tree Peony that Madmum mentioned.
11 May, 2009
What fun you all had! I wanted to go but it wasn't possible, so I enjoyed it via your photos...thanks, Sid!
My goodness - those prices! :-O
11 May, 2009
Thanks for all the nice comments :-)
Arlene - think I've counted about 5 or 6 of us were there, but, as you say, ships in the night I'm afraid lol I didn't see any of the floristy/food/crafts - surprising for me, I usually head straight for the food hall x-) Hope you gave hubby the whiskey AFTER you got home lol
Madmum - I bet the prices were inflated for the show - if you check around some nurseries I bet you'll find your peony (or something similar) for far less....
Llew - the L. cardinallis is a bit of a risk for me as my garden is very sharply drained and they like it damp I think....also risking a Primula viallii - hope these last 2 damp summers have not lulled me into a false sense of what I can grow here!
Gee - I liked both the stone spheres and the rocks on chains, but the r's on chains I hadn't seen before - very curious!
Barbara - sorry you couldn't make it. Maybe next year :-)
I was hoping to get some free seeds from the Gardeners World bus, but they'd run out by the time I'd found it....did anyone else manage to get some?
12 May, 2009
Sid, I didn't even see the Dig-in van :( I did apply for seeds online and I'm still waiting. And thank your for the links to the peony - unbelievable! He had other tree peonies for less than £20, no idea why that one was so expensive.
12 May, 2009
Yes, the L.C does like it damp, Sid hence me not having one here. I have a Ligularia that I have to keep going out and watering so thought I better not risk another damp lover, lol.
12 May, 2009
Loved your visit to one of our favourite places Malvern, it rained cats and dogs the last time we were there, spent most of the time in the food tents!!!! dashed out between showers to view plants, they are always expensive at these shows.
Thanks again for the many pictures, really enjoyed your blog.
12 May, 2009
Hi Dotty - I remember it tipping down with rain one year I went - I wonder if it was the same year?! I went well wrapped up in waterproofs that year, so it didn't matter too much lol
13 May, 2009
Madmum - it was just along from where the band were playing, but I didn't find it until about 3:30pm :-( I think they'd run out on the website too when I looked a week or so ago.
13 May, 2009
It was many moons ago Sid, we have been here 9 in June, and it was before that.......
14 May, 2009
Lovely pictures again!
27 May, 2009
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Thankyou for taking us with you! Great pics of a great day :)
10 May, 2009