THIS year’s Malvern Spring Garden Show, which opened at the Three Counties Showground on Thursday, is a special one – the event’s 25th birthday.

The show, which will welcome HRH The Princess Royal on Friday, opened beneath grey skies and showers of rain.

A quarter of a century ago, what is now a huge national event started life as a small regional flower show and the silver anniversary was marked with a celebration show garden and special displays in the show’s floral marquee.

These included a birthday ‘cake’ created from colourful sweetpeas, a ‘best of the best’ plant collection from the country’s top nurseries and a collection of garden show memorabilia. The show garden, which will remain until July, has been designed to capture the essence of the Malvern show with grassy mounds evoking the hills and rippling water to suggest the town’s natural springs.

Michael Warner, joint chairman of the show’s RHS and TCAS organising committee, said “In its early days the show was described by exhibitors as the dress rehearsal for the Chelsea Flower Show.

“It has long since outgrown that role.”

He said the show’s reputation as a launchpad for new and talented garden designers grew stronger each year. This year there are 22 show gardens.

These include the Recovery and Wellbeing Garden designed by Mark Eveleigh, from Colwall. Designed to promote a project for mentally ill adults, the allotment-style garden has neatly planted vegetables and a shed for chickens.

The show will be featured on BBC’s Gardeners’ World tonight and presenter Joe Swift was at the showground when it opened.