The RHS Malvern Spring Festival, a spectacular four-day seasonal showcase of pioneering new gardening trends and creative outdoor living spaces, will make a triumphant return to Three Counties Showground, Malvern from May 9-12
The RHS Malvern Spring Festival has an outstanding reputation as the trailblazer of the RHS Floral Show season. The 2024 festival boasts the country’s best-known expert horticulturalists and TV gardening personalities, including Alan Titchmarsh MBE, BBC Gardeners’ World favourites Adam Frost and Frances Tophill, and multi-award-winning RHS gold medallist, author and organic grower, Jekka McVicar – whose family-run herb farm in Bristol has been featured on many TV shows, including BBC’s Marcus Wareing’s Tales From A Kitchen Garden and Channel 4’s Sunday Bruch.
Also appearing at the Festival will be ITV’s This Morning’s regular chef, Marcus Bean, and TV presenter Si King, known as one half of the Hairy Bikers, who will both feature, alongside a host of other special guests, at the new, immersive Kitchen Garden Theatre, showcasing their culinary skills and sharing top tips for audiences to try at home.
As the first show of the year, the RHS Malvern Spring Festival will see the crowning of the very first RHS award-winning gardens of 2024. This year will see eight RHS judged show gardens that promise an eclectic mix of designs reflecting traditional ideas and avant-garde concepts. Gloucestershire based Laura Ashton-Phillips will be looking to add to her Malvern silver and bronze medals achieved in 2023 and 2022 with her garden ‘Eat, Drink and Be Rosemary’, a native wild space and kitchen garden combination. Patients at Gloucester’s Wotton Lawn Hospital are helping to grow some of the plants and afterwards everything will be absorbed into a children’s wellbeing garden at Gloucester Royal Hospital.
This year’s feature garden, The Secret Escape, is by RHS gold medal-winning Jamie Langlands – Lead Designer at Oxford Garden Design - who was responsible for last year’s ‘Best in Show’ and ‘People’s Choice’ for The Wildlife Trusts: Wilder Spaces garden. He has come up with an enchanting hidden grove in which there’s an unconventional dance floor surrounded by nature, with a DJ maintaining a constant groove. Access to this one-of-a-kind garden is through a ‘disco polytunnel’ filled with lush greenery and a mirror ball casting kaleidoscopic reflections. The entire space has been carefully designed to blend seamlessly with the natural surroundings, while offering a contrast of untamed wilderness and cultured beauty, including upcycled marvels.
The theme for 2024’s RHS Malvern Spring Festival, ‘Gardening for Change’, will celebrate evolution in the world of horticulture, embracing the positive impact it has on the environment, people and wellbeing. The Festival’s carefully considered programme for 2024 will look to inspire a new wave of green-fingered individuals, equipping them with practical knowledge of resilient gardening techniques to cope with the changing climate. The popular pot amnesty will feature again this year, and visitors can opt to take any purchases home in a compostable/plantable pot, rather than a plastic one (which will be recycled after the festival), with free pot swapping stations dotted throughout the showground.
An exciting new feature of this year’s show is the Festival of Houseplants – an indoor treasure trove celebrating the accessibility, versatility and simple joy of houseplants. An impressive array of horticultural experts will be on hand to share their advice and top tips on everything from how to choose the perfect houseplant for your space, to troubleshooting advice for tricky specimens. Experts appearing over the weekend include Jonny Balchandani, aka ‘The Bearded Plantaholic’; Ben Newell, terrarium expert; RHS medallist and aroid specialist, Mo – The Botanical Archive; and Joe Bagley, aka ‘The Houseplant Doctor’, who has shared his knowledge on BBC’s Gardeners World. Expect vibrant botanical displays from much-loved classics to rare and exotic specimens, engaging workshops and an abundance of shopping opportunities.
Following huge success last year, the Tips & Tricks area will return with buckets full of helpful advice and handy upcycling and cost-saving tips from experts, including Leigh Johnstone, aka ‘The Beardy Gardener’, an award-winning garden designer and passionate mental health campaigner, advocating for the power of gardening to improve wellbeing. The RHS Floral Marquee, alongside the Plant Village and Pavilions, will all return fully stocked by more of the UK’s top nurseries, providing the opportunity to seek advice from expert growers and to buy choice plants and rare gems to fill gardens and homes.
A visit to RHS Malvern Spring Festival makes an excellent day out for families, and there will be plenty of family fun for all ages in the Discovery Zone across the long weekend, with arts and crafts sessions, science-based activities, workshops and entertainment.
A brand-new ‘Taster Ticket’ has been introduced for 2024, and is a great way to experience a first glimpse into this vibrant, popular show. Priced at just £15, the Taster Ticket welcomes visitors into the showground from 2pm on Saturday 11 May. It’s the ideal choice for those looking to visit the show for the first time, families looking for a fun afternoon out, or anyone looking to do some dedicated plant shopping to liven up their own green spaces.
Tickets for the RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2024 start from just £26 (with under 16s free of charge) and can be bought in advance online at www.rhsmalvern.co.uk
