We won a medal at RHS Malvern spring festival 2022!!!!

2022 was my first time exhibiting at the RHS Spring Show in Malvern and to be quite honest, I had no idea what to expect. I spent the week prior in a very hectic head space. I was under prepared and under a whole heap of pressure, from myself. I semi planned my display a few days before but to be totally honest, I made it up a few days before the show started. I didn’t take any labels, I didn’t have a criteria and spent those 2 weeks working 15 hour days to be ready each and every day. It’s very fair to say the show completely wiped me out, in a good way, but it definitely took me a week or so to recover.

The show is held each year at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern, with the beautiful Malvern Hills providing a stunning backdrop.  Our stand was in the fabulous floral marquee and the RHS awards medals at each of its events as a mark of excellence. They are judged by a highly experienced panel, who award four grades of medal: Bronze, Silver, Silver-Gilt and the coveted Gold medal. We won silver!!!! The competitive part of me was a teeny bit gutted about it- who doesn’t want gold?!?, but after a bit of time to reflect and a good old fashioned few drinks at the local pub, I am really bloody proud of myself. When I set about this journey just over 4 years ago I could not have imagined that Harriet’s plants would have grown so much, so to receive any recognition for the work I do, is incredible.

 The 35th RHS Malvern Spring Festival was such a lovely show to experience and even had a Royal Visit this year. One thing that makes winning the award extra special for me is that this year there was a new green planet-friendly ethos and this coincided with it being one of the most popular in recent years, with around 100,000 visitors over the hugely popular 4-day festival. This means that more people than ever have been having conversations around sustainability and greener gardening. Peat is a huge part of this conversation but so many are unaware of the detrimental impact of peat harvesting. Being able to have this conversation with so many new people really does make my heart sing. I love growing plants for a living, I do, but more than anything I want Harriet’s plants to be a force for good and to educate as many people as possible that there is another way to grow plants and that together we can make a huge difference to the future of our planet!!!

RHS Malvern Spring Festival is the largest RHS flower show outside of London and kickstarts the show season each year. The 2022 Floral Marquee hosted over 50 specialist nurseries. The central focus of the festival is always the Floral Marquee which is abundant in colour and variety.

Making their festival debut alongside us were G&K Carnations, Lincolnshire Pond Plants and Ottershaw Nursery. It is SO great to see the industry thriving and meet other growers on their own special journey. As you can probably tell, being a grower is a lifestyle, not a job. As a result I sometimes feel a bit isolated from the real world and it’s why I love talking with you all! To spend 4 days with my people was nothing short of glorious. I'm still learning and still growing and I'm so happy with all the feedback I've been given. The fine details and constructive advice will make my future gardens even better.

Here are a few photos of our stand where our beautiful Monstera mother plant took centre stage:

This is how the stand looked when we first got there to set up.

As you can imagine…I PANICKED !! Looking at this staging at first sight was REALLY REALLY intimidating. Scroll down to see the final indoor garden though!

Showcasing peat free, chemical free plastic free and UK grown houseplants.

When asked what the garden was showcasing, the above is exactly what I said to the judges!!
The first of it’s kind at the show and still the only peat free commercial grower of houseplants in the UK!!!! MY DREAM!!!

From this display I also have a few more stockists coming too which I can’t wait to share with you! Hopefully you’ll all have a stockist near you in the near future.

A MUCH NEEDED WALK WITH MY MAIN GIRL

If I remember rightly, I cried walking up this hill. It was my first day off in 15 days and the first day on my own in that length of time too. For anyone that knows me, alone time is SO important to me.
It’s my time to reflect and just sit with my feelings. Walking up the hills meant I could eat gorse flowers without a care in the world and spend time playing sticks with Blue.

To anyone reading this THANK YOU.

Your support for this world, the peat bogs and land restoration is SO VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!!