RHS Malvern Autumn Show

Colour-tastic blooms, huge-mungus veg & a vintage section including a pop up vintage tea tent!

Seriously, what more is there to say?

Dahlias... that's what!

                                           

Major, major, MAJOR hot garden trend alert! It appears Dahlias are making a very fast, big-time come back.

The harvest tent looked utterly glorious, a good chunk of it filled with colour-popping, show-stopping, vibrant & cheerful contrasting Dahlia blooms. Even my partner, who really was initially dragging his feet around said tent, was absolutely loving the glorious colour on show particularly from the Dahlia entries.

What a way to celebrate the autumn? Fill your garden with oodles of colour, brighten up dull days, add height, add textural looking flowers, plant Dahlias in Spring for late summer- mid autumn colour.

These are a few of my fav' Dahlias from the show:
                                                                                                                                                           
                   

Above left: D.Weston Spanish Dancer. Above right: D.Weston Pirate

Cacti & succulents were also highly present at the show, loads of cool varieties, some that looked almost alive and like they were about to take over! Whilst other varieties looked neat, tidy & ideal for any container garden on a windowsill or table top.

           

 

Gladioli looked striking, sitting tall and proud in the top corner of the harvest tent and other floral tents too. Stunning, tall, elegant & bursting with bloom!

My TIP: A wonderful back of the border summer flowering bulb, if planted in slight succession you may continue to get blooms into early autumn. They do require plenty of feed, high potassium and plenty of support to protect the giant stems from snapping and breaking.

Not only are they a stunning garden border flower, they are fantastic for creating high impact, easy & quick yet jaw-dropping displays within your home. Simply fill a good tall (and stable!) basic vase with one single colour of Gladioli stems, ideally cut just as the buds start showing petal colour through the almost-about-to-burst buds. This way the flowers will open indoors and your display will last longer in the vase.

        

So to the veg!

I had forgotten how amazing it is to see and appreciate the super hard work that someone has put into these super-nova veggies, all the way from seed to the day of judging. Such an impressive 'sport', so much effort and technique involved it truly is admirable.

My favorite part of the vegetables is how the collections are presented. The leeks, cleaned up showing their super white base, off setting the deep green bladed leaf at the top end. some entries had 'styled' the leek foliage into symmetrical patterns creating veg art within their show pieces.

                   

Huge Pumpkins were, of course, the favorite by many of the visitors at the show, loads of selfies being taken alongside the big boys! 

Love Pumpkins & squashes, they just scream harvest and autumn to me. I loved how the super big veg tent ajoined a beautiful display of red, oranges, rusty, yellowing & flaming Acers. The combination and flow worked so well, really creating the ultimate fall feel.

         

Garden Accessory Trend

I noticed that shabby chic, antique style pieces for the garden are still very popular with lots of visitors buzzing around such stalls. This is a timeless style for the garden and works well in cottage garden schemes. 

Within this timeless trend, I noticed more 'rusted' items emerging into the garden accessory zone. Rusted plant supports, archways, planters & sculptures. I have to say, I was really beginning to get inspired by this rusty look! I can see this style working well with Alliums growing next to rusted items, or whispy grasses, vibrant Rudbeckia or Crocosmia to add a fabulous contrast. I will be seriously considering using some of these items within my future garden designs.

TEA TIME!

Cannot forget to mention the wonderful Vintage Tea Tent! What a marvelous idea! This pop-up wonder was run by the Vintage Tea Room, Hereford and they really did a fantastic job!

Vintage tea cups and pretty patterned plates were stack and lined up ready for action as the que was filling up! 

The servers looked fab in their flapper outfits, super vintage glam! Tables were dressed with floral table cloths & pretty vintage jugs filled with colourful garden flowers. Gorgeous pastel bunting draped all over the outside of this sturdy, good old event tent, more strooned inside along with pictures of Audrey Hepburn and the like, beads hung over frames.... just heaven.

For me, the best bit was that they had a fantastic array of gluten free cakes to choose from too... ideal! Well done Team Vintage Tea!

Surrounding the tea tent were various treasure caves of beautiful vintage clothing with a tea dance tent alongside the area to top it off! Perfect!

The Floral Show

All the florists that had entered into the show really had pushed the boundaries and truly gone to town on all of their amazing pieces. A few trends I picked up on here, one was that this autumn the mixture of deep, vibrant blue, with intense musky pink & the natural colours of flowering grasses was very much in favour. I loved the contrast, so much beauty in the depth and mix of intense colours along with a neutral tone to add light into this style of floral composition. It really looked fantastic, simple yet effective.

Stunning mix of fluffy Pampas grass flowers, intense blue Delphinium and the contrasting depth of dark pink Sedum

Another beautiful version of this stunning colour combo! Pink Dahlia, intense blue Delphinium, deep purple foliage of Cotinus, textural grass flowers & that dramatic dark pink of Sedum again.








Another trend was very much focused on home-grown flowers, UK-grown flowers and mixtures that created that 'fresh from the field' look.

Love this floral embellished tractor! Rustic charm with added vibrancy and cheerful colour using seasonal blooms.











We also popped along to see some of the show animal displays & tents, we saw some beautiful Lamas in the show ring, such lovely animals and looked very well pampered too. Gorgeous bunnies, lovely chickens & healthy looking cows which always seem to have the most fabulous eye lashes... have you ever noticed? Beautiful beasts <3

The main food hall was filled with goodies and treats to either keep you going through the day or take home for a later treat (we did both, no, I'm not ashamed, we are foodies!)

My Plant of the Show: Colchicum 'Waterlily'- a stunning double flowering variety, huge flowers that create an elegant yet impactful display when planted together

A wonderful day out in all, would definitely recommend a visit next year! 

Feeling totally inspired and 100% in the autumn spirit, so watch this space as Ill be sharing more autumn trends, ideas and DIY's for you garden & home over the next few weeks via my blog & vlog.

Many thanks for sticking with me until the end!

Happy Autumn & Happy Gardening

Lottie x