Blooming Lovely: Flower Shows To Visit This Spring & Summer

The spring and summer bring the world blossoming to life with colourful and fragrant floral displays. This means that the flower show season will soon be in full bloom, with a variety of festivals, shows and exhibitions taking place around the country. 

This is a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in the beauty and variety of nature at its very best, and pick up some gardening tips from the experts. Here are just a few of the events taking place over the next few months. They are the perfect destination for a group or family day out, and many events have coach hire ticket packages available. 

Harrogate Spring Flower Show, Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, 25-28 April

The season kicks off with the Harrogate Spring Flower Show, the first major horticultural event of the year. This year, you can browse delightful show gardens, stunning exhibitions by some of the country’s best florists, attend live talks and demonstrations by seasoned gardeners, and shop for gardening products to your heart’s content. 

In the Grand Floral Hall, you can pursue displays of plants and flowers and ask for advice from a range of growers, nurseries, and horticultural society experts. You can also be inspired by the show garden installations, created by the professionals and full of wonderful innovative ideas for planting schemes. 

There’s also the exquisite Floral Art Pavillion, featuring colourful creations from artists, colleges, and clubs around the country. The Live Theatre hosts talks by experts from across the country and features lively interviews and question and answer sessions. There’s also a Gardener’s Kitchen, featuring cookery demonstrations with fresh garden produce. 

RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcester, 9-12th May

The RHS Malvern Spring Festival features show gardens with exciting and creative new approaches to design and planting, created by some of the UK’s top horticulturalists. There’s also a Floral Marquee that hosts hand-picked exhibitors, offering you the opportunity to purchase hanging baskets, border plants, pond plants, and much more.  

There’s also talks and demonstrations by well-known personalities from the gardening world, with the opportunity to ask questions and learn from the experts. Whether you want to know how to grow produce on your allotment or create a water feature, there will be a wealth of information available for you to draw on.

The show is also a popular shopping destination, with hundreds of plant species on sale, alongside artisan crafts, clothing, and food and drink. The theme of the festival this year is ‘Gardening for Change’, with a focus on resilient gardening techniques, and a celebration of community garden schemes that are inspiring the next generation.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show, London Gate, London, 21-25 May

The Chelsea Flower Show is probably the most famous event of the gardening calendar, with world-class floral displays, garden designs and exclusive shopping. This year sees the debut of the ‘No Adults Allowed Garden’, which has been designed by primary school children. 

It’s an immersive experience where children can play in a natural stream and pool, discover a hidden den, and explore meadows and woodland.  Adults are only allowed to enter the garden on condition that they plant a tree; donate to the RHS Campaign for School Gardening; and find a flower that starts with the first letter of their name.

BBC Gardeners World Live, NEC Birmingham, June 13-16

This event is a favourite for all types of gardener, whether you just have a couple of hanging baskets or a flower meadow. There’s the regular features such as show gardens, expert panel discussions, food and cooking demonstrations, and the floral marquee. Personalities such as Monty Don, Adam Frost, and Joe Swift will be on hand to lend their expertise.

This year, there will be the debut of the UK International Orchid Show, featuring a vast range of these eye-catching and attractive plants. There will also be the APL Avenue, which features show gardens that are designed to typical back garden sizes, and contain accessible and achievable ideas that you can easily apply to your own space. 

If you have a small garden or even just a terrace, there’s something for you in the Beautiful Borders display, which is full of thoughtful  take-home ideas for compact spaces.