In this section we bring you the latest news from the flower shows.
Gold Medals from Chelsea Flower Show and
Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
We've been awarded 62 RHS gold medals, including 14 at the Chelsea Flower Show, the RHS Lawrence Medal for the best exhibit during 2009 and the Tudor Rose Award for Best Floral Exhibit at Hampton Court Flower Show for two consecutive years!
* * * 2010 Flower Shows * * *
May 6th - 9th Malvern Spring Gardening Show
This was our first appearance at the Malvern Spring Show in four years.
Organic herbs display at Malvern Spring Gardening Show 2010
Jekka created an organic herb display to please the eye and the senses. Show visitors were especially attracted to the deep pink centrepiece Prostanthera ovalifolia AGM, Australian Oval Leaved Mint Bush (the deep pink below the Bay Tree) and Isatis tinctoriaWoad (the yellow haze below the Bay Tree), interspersed with Lavender 'Kew Red', Jekka's Thyme and Crambe maritima AGM, Sea Kale.
Australian Oval Leaved Mint Bush centrepiece
We all enjoyed the Malvern Show, especially Jekka who, unaware that we were even competing, was thrilled to receive a Gold Medal!
Jekka receiving the Gold medal
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May 25th - 29th RHS Chelsea Flower Show
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show was a roller-coasting week of firsts for Jekka and the herb farm. It was our first ever Main Avenue 'booth' - and whilst many visitors expressed regret that we weren't exhibiting in the Grand Pavilion, our small herb display did show visitors just how easy it is to use herbs in a small space with beautiful impact. We were delighted to be awarded a Certificate of Merit for the stand.
Our first ever Chelsea Main Avenue 'booth'
received a Certificate of Merit!
Chelsea was the launchpad for 'Jekka's Herb Cookbook', written by Jekka, and beautifully illustrated by her daughter, Hannah McVicar, who had also created a stunning range of limited edition floral prints especially for Chelsea. We also launched a new seed collection to compliment the cookbook.
Jekka's 'show cookie', the 'basil biscuit' (from a recipe in the book) was sampled by many, and we were thrilled by visits from celebrity chefs, Jamie Oliver (who wrote the foreword) and Raymond Blanc..amongst others!
Some well-known faces came to see Jekka's new book
Jekka's Herb Cookbook and Jekka's Culinary Seed Collectionwere launched at
our Main Avenue stand at the Chelsea Flower Show
We also grew herbs for five show gardens this year, including 'The Tourism Malaysia Garden' by David Cubero and James Wong, and 'The University of Worcester Garden' by Olivia Kirk, a low allergen garden. Says Olivia, "The plants from Jekkas Herb Farm arrived in perfect condition, needing hardly any preparation before placing them in the garden. The Curly Woodsage and Purple Shiso looked stunning together in the front border and received many admiring remarks" (University of Worcester Garden, Silver-Gilt).
Our 'behind the scenes' presence at the show was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate that organically grown herbs not only taste good and do you good, but they are also visually stimulating too, embellishing a garden with colour, texture and structure.
July 6th - 11th RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
Hampton Court Flower Show saw the launch of our new Origanum 'Jekka's Beauty', a cross between Origanum 'Kent Beauty' and Origanum Dictamnus- this stunning new variety has beautiful pink bracts and delicate, oval, hairy leaves.
We also took along a sumptuous selection of our organically grown culinary and aromatic herbs, herb seed and our popular range of herb recipe Greetings Cards.
Jekka created a sizeable herb display outside our retail stand, which became a magnet for pollen hungry bumble bees and beautiful butterflies, affirming the message that organically grown herbs are the perfect habitat for beneficial insects.
Jekka's Herb Display (which was awarded Best Plant Plot)featured Ammi Majus, Queen Anne's Lace, Chamaemelum nobile 'Flore Pleno', DoubleFlowered Chamomile, and Echium Vulgare, Vipers Bugloss, attracting a host of happy butterfly and bees
Our second most popular herb (after Origanum 'Jekka's Beauty') was Ammi Majus, Queen Anne's Lace, also known as Bishop's Weed.
This beautiful hardy annual is a medicinal herb - the seeds are used to treat the skin disease, vitiligo, and it's tall habit makes it a beautiful border herb.
Ammi Majus, Queen Anne's Lace
Jekka's Herb Cookbook proved especially popular at the show, having officially launched on 3rd June. Visitors waited patiently in line for Jekka and daughter, Hannah, who illustrated the book, to sign and dedicate copies.
BBC Gardener's World and gardening guru, Chris Beardshaw, came along to our stand and went away with his own signed copy too!
Chris Beardshaw with
Hannah and Jekka
Working the shows can be quite exhausting, especially in the intense heat of Hampton Court Flower Show week. So Jekka and the team were delighted to receive ' Best Plant Plot Award', presented by the RHS on the last day of the show.
Mandy Almond, RHS, presents Jekka with Best Plant Plot Award
We were equally uplifted to receive an email from this appreciative customer:
"... thank-you for wonderful service at the Hampton Court Flower Show. I was your first customer of the day on the Saturday and bought lots of lovely new herbs and the excellent cookbook. The fact that I could leave them with you whilst I went round the rest of the show was a godsend in that heat! It was a credit to your team that you all managed to stay happy and helpful in such extreme conditions. I really hope to be able to get to the farm one day to see where you grow the excellent herbs.
Thanks once again for making the show a great experience and keep up the great work." Samantha Smith.
Makes it all worthwhile really!
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Scroll down to see our award winning herb displays over past years...
2009 - All about the Gnome at Chelsea
Jekka was awarded her 14th Chelsea Gold in 2009 and the RHS Lawrence Medal for the best exhibit shown to the society during the year, despite the mysterious appearance of her old friend 'Borage', the herb farm Gnome who is officially banned from Chelsea. We also enjoyed our popular butterfly and bee stand at Hampton Court.
2008 saw the award of Jekka's 13th Chelsea Gold Medal, and her Hampton Court thyme garden achieved the Tudor Rose Award for Best Floral Exhibit for the second consecutive year - a first for any nursery, never mind an organic herb nursery!
2007 was an exceptional year for Jekka’s Herb Farm. As well as scooping our 12th gold at Chelsea, we also won the acclaimed ‘Tudor Rose Award’ for Best Floral Exhibit at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, a first for a herb display, an organic display and a first for the farm!
2006 - A Glorious Summer Show Season The 2006 flower show season was certainly a glorious summer for Jekka and the team, scooping gold medals at every show we attended.
We also 'Grow to Show'. If you're an exhibitor or garden designer requiring organic herbs, contract grown to show standard, contact us now on 01454 418878 or read more..
