By Nigel Heath
We were like two expectant bees buzzing off across country from our cottage and flower filled garden on a hillside just outside Monmouth.
Our destination was not a giant honeypot but the Royal Horticultural Society’s Annual Spring Show on the Three Counties Agricultural Society’s showground against the magnificent backdrop of the Malvern Hills.
Here my gardening enthusiast wife Jenny and I would find some ninety acres packed with simply everything an amateur gardener could ever dream of or wish for with experienced plant growers from all over the country offering literally thousands of flowers, plants and shrubs for sale.
We knew for certain there would be many other expectant bees like us heading for Malvern with the idea of purchasing specific items for their much-loved gardens while thousands more would be enthusiastic signed up members of the RHS all looking forward to a grand day out.
And always a bonus of course was having the golden opportunity of listening to talks and having the chance to question some of the country’s most famous gardening personalities including Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh as well as food legends Mary Berry and Raymond Blanc.
In our case we were looking for a range of grasses as well as small rockery plants, a special rose and pots of bright red geraniums which would go on blooming right through the summer and on into the autumn until the arrival of the first frosts.
There were of course a myriad of other stands displaying a huge range of products associated with gardens from a large and striking range of beautiful outside furniture, some pieces carved from wood, together with stylish and eye-catching metal animals and birds through to terracotta pots, log cabins, greenhouses and country clothing.
With nearly one hundred thousand visitors expected over this annual four-day festival the Three Counties showground people with many years of experience have parking down to a fine art with clearly signposted parking zones allowing both easy access and departure and with yellow jacketed volunteers on hand to assist.
As regular visitors we knew the ropes and had soon parked up, changed into our boots and were making a “beeline” for the North Gate with me pulling our special collapsible plant carrying trolly behind us.
Once inside having had our bags checked, it was only a few steps to the giant floral marquee where I knew from past experience that a friendly and jostling mayhem would ensue.
For hundreds of gardening enthusiasts crowded around literally dozens of stalls manned by highly experienced plantsmen and woman from across the country selling flowers, plants and shrubs of every kind.
“You take the trolly because if I have it, we are sure to get separated,” I said as Jenny headed off with her shopping list with me doing my level best not to lose sight of her.
To add to all the excitement Press photographers were taking pictures of gold medal award winners with suited show officials standing close by while a film crew and smartly dressed young woman presenter consulted her programme.
Luckily it was not long before Jenny had zoned in on a stall run by Chelsea Gold Medalists, the Kitchen Garden Plant Centre of nearby Newent in Gloucestershire where she picked out a small medicinal plant called Stalked Bulbine which can be used as an alternative to Aloe Vera as a skin burn salve.
It was growing steadily warmer under this giant canvass canopy filled with the buzz of hundreds of gardening lovers jostling elbow to elbow and in questioning conversation with eager plant growers and sellers with a wide knowledge of all their offerings.
Several more purchases later we finally emerged through the crowds and out into the sunshine to come across a most welcome sight namely one of two plant creches run by members of The Malvern Hills Gardening Club where showgoers can deposit their purchases and collect them when they are leaving in exchange for a charity donation.
Now armed with a colourful and most informative show guide and map we had the rest of the day arms free, for the moment that is, to wander on and around the wide and not too overcrowded avenues.
Not to be missed of course were all the show gardens showcasing the talents of some of the best emerging and established garden designers working in the UK and each with different themes from nurturing woodland responding to climate change through to a nature rich garden designed to support British bird wildlife.
Another favourite show feature of ours is always the Schools Garden Challenge where this year eight schools from across Worcestershire and Gloucestershire were invited to use their fertile imaginations to design a garden based on myths and legends.
There are also dozens of food outlets, eateries and coffee and cake stalls right across the site including a large food hall offering a whole variety of cuisines where we purchased two cardboard tubs packed with salads and other vegetarian goodies and found a table to share outside in the sunshine.
By mid-afternoon we were beginning to flag and collapsed into two blue and white striped deckchairs surrounding a small stage where a folk singer was performing.
Not far away across the grass was a mobile stall offering Pimms cocktails but we resisted the temptation because it was almost time for our cross-country drive home where Jenny would be out in the garden in planting mode and I would be on my laptop writing this piece.
