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RHS Malvern Spring Festival announces celebrity line-up for 2024

RHS Malvern Spring Festival, the trailblazing four-day horticultural showcase, in association with My Pension Expert, will return to Three Counties Showground, Malvern from 9 – 12 May 2024, with another outstanding line-up of expert horticulturalists, TV gardening personalities and special guest speakers.

Taking centre stage at the Festival Theatre this year will be one of the UK’s best-loved gardeners, writers and television presenters, Alan Titchmarsh MBE. BBC Gardeners’ World favourites Adam Frost and Frances Tophill will also appear at the Festival Theatre, with Frances sharing insights into how to care for a small garden, along with a fresh approach to growing your own. Other Festival Theatre guests include RHS Vice President, Design Ambassador and Gardeners’ World magazine columnist, James Alexander-Sinclair; horticultural broadcaster and wellbeing advocate, Ellen Mary (who will be sharing her favourite indoor and outdoor edible plants and what you can do with them); former BBC Gardeners’ World presenter, author and RHS medal winning designer, Toby Buckland; and Avon based award-winning landscape designer, Jon Wheatley.

A brand-new Kitchen Garden Theatre, created by award-winning designers, Stonebarn Landscapes, will offer visitors the chance to relax within an immersive kitchen garden while watching live cooking demonstrations from a range of talented chefs and outstanding local food producers. Expect lots of expert tips, clever ideas and inspiration on cooking with home-grown ingredients. Special guests include Jekka McVicar, multi-award-winning RHS gold medalist, author and organic grower, whose family-run herb farm in Bristol has been featured on TV shows, including ITV’s Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh, BBC’s Marcus Wareing’s Tales From A Kitchen Garden and Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch. Jekka will host a herb growing masterclass, sharing tips and insights for both beginners and seasoned gardeners. Marcus Bean – regular chef on ITV’s This Morning – and Si King from The Hairy Bikers duo will also feature on the Kitchen Garden stage. RHS Malvern Spring Festival regular and cooking expert, Mark Diacono, and wild food guide and author, Liz Knight, will respectively share tips on seasonal delights and foraging. Planting designer, garden writer and author, Carolyn Dunster, will take audiences through a guide to growing and cooking with edible flowers, foliage, herbs and seeds, and Joe Woodhouse – praised as one of the UK’s best vegetarian chefs - will be sharing his passion for vegetables.

The Festival of Houseplants, a brand-new feature at this year’s RHS Malvern Spring Festival, will host an impressive array of horticultural experts sharing 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 medalist and aroid specialist, Mo – The Botanical Archive; Joe Bagley, aka ‘The Houseplant Doctor’, who has shared his knowledge on BBC’s Gardeners World; Tessa from Ladybird Plant Care, an expert in organic pest control; and content creators Emma and Claire from ‘Good Growing’ will be joined by Claire from ‘The Jungle Haven’ sharing their joint passion for plant swapping.

The popular Tips & Tricks Theatre will make a return to the 2024 RHS Malvern Spring Festival, hosted by Leigh Johnstone, aka ‘The Beardy Gardener’, and a range of special guests sharing clever tips and ways to upcycle, reuse and save money in your own green spaces. Leigh is an award-winning garden designer and passionate mental health campaigner, advocating for the power of gardening to improve wellbeing. Joining Leigh over the long weekend will be James Greig, a flower farmer and former TV producer and director. After 15 years working in primetime television, he now runs a 2-acre cut flower farm in rural Hampshire. James will be sharing his tips on creating a hand-tied bouquet from your garden, while sisters Jo & Lorraine Caley from Caley Brothers Mushrooms, will share their advice on how to start growing your own mushrooms at home. Niall McCauley, regular gardening contributor on Ireland:AM, Jason Williams, aka ‘The Cloud Gardener’, and Adam Kirtland, aka ‘View From The Potting Bench’, will also join Leigh on stage across the weekend.

The Potting Shed Theatre, located within the impressive Floral Marquee, will host a range of green fingered professionals ready to share specialist gardening knowledge in a series of interesting and informative sessions. Guests include Jonathan Moseley, one of the UK’s leading floral designers, who will share his tips for getting the best out of home-grown flower arrangements, and Chris Collins, Head of Horticulture Garden Organic and former head gardener of Westminster Abbey, along with a series of nursery experts, poised to share growing tips on a plethora of plants and flowers.

To add to the outstanding line up of special guests, this year’s RHS Malvern Spring Festival will feature the very first RHS show and feature gardens of 2024, a showcase of some of the UK’s top nurseries and plant experts on display throughout the Floral Marquee and Plant Village and Pavilions, a packed programme of family fun in the Discovery Zone, and much more.

Tickets for the RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2024 start from just £15 (with under 16s free of charge) and can be bought here.