The terraced borders and magnolias at Powis Castle

I ended my post on the giant hedges in this garden teasing you with magnolias and more flowers, and I won’t disappoint. But in that time I’m sure our own gardens have more than sprung into life, I really don’t know where the time goes, but anyway…

The borders are terraced with each mostly having a beautiful brick wall as their background, this immediately struck me as an ideal place for inspiration for my own garden, and I’ll share more in a separate post on how their use of plants against the wall has inspired me. These borders though are deep, gorgeous but deep and that means a lot of plants and probably in my own garden not an awful lot of room left for the grass!

They were full of fresh green spring lushness - whether that was the new growth, or the zing that the euphorbias bring.

But there were also plenty of magnolias. Their scent filling the air as we got close, such a joy.

I might have also found an euphorbia that MOH could get on board with - these orange flowering more spicy looking plants bring a less usual spring colour to the party, so I’ll be on the lookout for something like these, even though I will still continue to love the zesty lime green versions.

There was also the hint of the peonies to come, right next to the joyfulness of spring that is tulips.

And this spring these Imperial Fritillarias seem to have called my name - I’m seeing them everywhere, and they were even on the front cover of one of the RHS magazines that arrived in the post, and have subsequently become my phone’s wallpaper. So it’s safe to say that at some point I’ll be having my own plants, I just hope they look as good as these - and the ones on my phone!

Ah, more magnolias - such luscious pink flowers this time and such glorious scent.

But the irises and buddleia weren’t to be outdone and they each brought their own shade of purple to the borders.

But in springtime, it really was the magnolias at Powis Castle that stole my heart - it’s easy to see why isn’t it?

Two person quilts, double the skill

The two person quilts category was pretty self explanatory - it’s for quilts that have had two people work on them, that includes quilting whether that’s the result of pure collaboration or if the quilt has been professionally long armed (that’s when you send your quilt away to be quilted).

But the quilts were far from ordinary, like the other quilts on display they were full of imagination, inspiration and great work, and I really don’t think it matters that more than one person has worked on a quilt, but I guess in a competition it provides transparency.

As with the other categories the judges were looking for visual impact, the emotional response to the quilt, the composition and use of colour as well as its construction and accuracy of piecing, and no doubt much more. I’d be terrible as a judge as I liked pretty much every quilt, and as I walked around the show the ‘wows’ kept coming, in fact I think if I walked past the first quilts I saw I’d be even more wowed by them the second time I saw them!

But anyway, here’s my favourites in the two person quilts category.

GOLDEN WEDDING, EILEEN WING AND DEBBIE HOLLAND

I’m sure it will be a surprise to no one that this was one of my favourite quilts in the show - it uses yellows and oranges, is heart shaped and has a mix and match of blocks and an interesting background. Isn’t it lovely?

And as much as I love the ‘Golden Wedding’ quilt above, the winner in this category was entirely different and so intricate.

CATEGORY WINNER: TWO HALVES MAKE US WHOLE, CLAIRE WALLACE AND TELENE JEFFREY

It was one to stare and stare and admire the work, all of it.

As was this next one, just look at the detailed quilting on show. That alone boggles my mind, and that’s before you notice the design - this photo is just a quarter of the quilt, but the detail was lost in the whole quilt picture, and the detail needs to be seen.

DAISY, HELEN BROOKHAM AND SANDY CHANDLER

The final two quilts are a study in colour composition, both use more traditional quilt blocks and yet these appeal to me as much as the others I’ve included in this post.

JARDIN DES ETOILES, JAYNE TRUEMAN AND JO RIOUX

I loved the name of both of these, there’s a play on words for both of them. Above you have garden of the stars - and I can imagine each of those stars as flower beds with hedge borders around them as you see in so many French chateaus. And below, the name Time is so appropriate for the hourglass blocks.

TIME, JO MYHILL AND TEAMO QUILTING

I love the colours in this one two, and how my eye travels across the quilt tracing the shapes. And then looking more closely I see how the fabric is repeated, and how the backgrounds blend between a cream and a creamy white and to a light grey.

It’s an absolute dream, and as I said before I’d be no good judging any of the categories - all the quilts are just too lovely!

Celebrating all things pink

* I was invited to the Gardeners’ World Live show and provided with a pair of tickets to the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

This garden designed by Samantha Stringer, and to give it its full title - Think, all things pink, is an absolute winner. While it was awarded a Gold medal at the show I think I’d have awarded it higher. It’s a great ode to pink in all its shades and it was designed ‘to inspire the use of a single colour when planting’ and it definitely does that, though I think MOH might raise an eyebrow or two if he knew that was my plan for our own garden, but it shows how effective using a single colour can be.

And who knew that so many shades of pink could live so harmoniously together?

Pink encourages the feeling of strength and boldness according to the blurb board next to the garden, and the different tones add depth and interest, as do the different shaped flower heads.

I’d quite happily be sold, but I do like a bit of big and I absolutely love dense planting like this. I know it’s a show garden and all that, but I’d love my borders to be so fully stocked, when I get to them that is. Though I have a plan, which is to buy the plants now and grow them on so that I can split them as they’re planted so getting (at least) two plants for the price of one, and getting to enjoy them right now.

Or that’s my excuse for my current uptick in plant buying!

I love the attention to detail in this garden, and I love these pastel striped dahlias - but look more closely at the picture and you’ll notice pink edged raffle tickets for the plants which had already been bought by those visiting on the last day of the show.

Ah more dahlias, these spiky petalled sort remind me of the ones dad grew in our childhood garden, back then I probably thought they were terribly old fashioned and dated. But now I love them so clearly the flowers are back on trend, not that I’ve become terribly old fashioned and dated!

I mentioned the attention to detail earlier, and here’s another example - with the designer wearing what other colour, than a beautiful dusky pink.

I guess if you’re going in, you’re best to go all in - and what an absolute triumph of a garden to close out my posts from the 2025 show. I’m going along to the show next month and can’t wait to see and to share the delights and inspiration available this year.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was quite a show! I hope you’ve enjoyed the posts from my visit to the 2025 show as much as I enjoyed the show - I’m already looking forward to what’s in store from this year’s show next month.