MALVERN’S 2012 Spring Gardening Show turned out to be a blooming success after all.

As weather conditions improved over the weekend, about 90,000 visitors flocked to the four-day event on the Three Counties Showground, which was bathed in sunshine against the spectacular backdrop of the Malvern Hills.

“When judges from the Royal Horticultural Show began their work on Thursday, they found their task hindered by the fact many of the exhibits had been held in bud by the dull, wet weather,” said showground spokesman Sharon Gilbert.

“However the sunshine from Friday onwards brought the blooms out to their full glory and created the spectacular colours and scents we know and love and which are such a part of this first major outdoor show of the year.

“Being the first big horticultural event of the season, everyone is itching to get out in their own gardens and make them lovely for the summer.

“The show gardens look particularly wonderful in the sunlight and it was good to see so many enthusiasts looking for inspiration.”

While most displays at the Spring Gardening Show were devoted to the beautiful and the decorative, Malvern sculptor Caro Sweet was operating at the other end of the scale.

Using detritus from visitors and tradestands, which included discarded wire and polystyrene, paper cups and odd bits of wood, she had been commissioned by the event event organisers to create a jubilee-themed sculpture titled ‘If the Queen were a plant’.

She said: “I’ve long admired the Queen’s more considered approach to life than some Royals and felt that incorporating recycled materials rather than using expensive new ones would be a more fitting tribute.”

The 3ft high statue, which had a garland of roses and a lily crown, took shape throughout the show’s four days and was eventually modelled in clay.

When completed, it is likely to feature somewhere in the showground’s new £1.5 million exhibition and conference centre.

Best in show tradestand and a gold medal went to blacksmiths JW and AJ Barrett, of High Street, Feckenham, for a display of ornate ironwork.

There was also a gold for CLM Keder Greenhouses, of Offenham, near Evesham, while Riverside Shepherd Huts, of Hanbury, MPB Garden Buildings, of Bewdley, Home and Garden Ironwork, of Tibberton, near Worcester, McKellars Ironwork, of Tramsway Forge, Eardisley, Herefordshire, and Pershore College were all awarded silver.

In the botanic art section, Bridget Rochford from Blakedown, Kidderminster took a silver grenfell award for her display called ‘What’s in a name’. The competition was won by Brigitte Daniel, of Witney, near Oxford, with an arrangement of primulas.