Plants with the wow factor

Find scent, colour and superb plants in the Floral Marquee at Malvern.

Enter the Malvern Floral Marquee and prepare to be wowed! Walk in and you are greeted with scent and riotous colour; considering the lack of April sun this year this is a credit to the plant exhibitors.

Southfields Nursery, MFM1, cacti specialists, are Best in Show for the second consecutive year. The deserved accolade is due not only to the abundance of dazzling cacti flowers but also to the brilliantly-engineered symmetry of the display.

Colour eminates also from gold winner Penhow Nursery, MFM76, of Wales, displaying impressive 90cm (3ft) pots of Diasca and Nemesia. The nursery has been breeding Diasca for 20 years and is looking forward to exhibiting a new variety, 'Bluebelle' at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Nearby, Edrom Nursery, MFM82, is showing off a plethora of colourful and unusual perennials. Hardy lady slipper orchids complement shade-loving plants and blue Meconopsis (Himalayan poppies) are all the more striking  next to dark-leaved Primula 'Innesfree'.

 The Primula auricula of Drointon Nurseries, MFM41, are immaculately displayed in a traditional auricula theatre, the rainbow of flowers offset by pristine green leaves.