We are very pleased that we were awarded an RHS Gold Medal for our display at the recent RHS Orchid Show held at Wisley gardens! We put on a colourful display of mixed species and hybrids which the visitors also seemed to enjoy plus sales were good, no doubt helped by the lovely spring weather we had.

There were several other Gold Medal exhibits by The Mathers Foundation, Helen Millner and Writhlington School plus Silver Gilt medals from The Bournemouth Orchid Society and Laurence Hobbs Orchids too. 


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With orchid shows getting going again it was a chance to put on our first large display in over two years. The annual Royal Horticultural Society’s Orchid Show had been held at the RHS Horticultural Halls in Vincent Square, London for many years and we have attended every year, putting on a large display of colourful orchids in full bloom. As the flower shows held at the halls have been gradually relocated out of the capital to other venues, including RHS gardens around the country, the orchid show was one of the last to move and had been planned to be held at RHS Hyde Hall in the summer of 2020. This was due to the new educational and event centre at RHS Wisley not being complete yet but in the intervening two years this new building was finished and when it was time for the RHS Orchid Show to return, that is where we headed.

The show itself was a fair bit smaller than it used to be, due to the dwindling numbers of nurseries, the smaller size of the hall and lack of European nurseries due to Brexit, but that’s another story! However, the standard of the larger exhibits was still high and there was plenty for the visitors to be wowed by! We were blessed with good weather over the Mother’s Day weekend so there were lot of people pouring into the gardens.

We have tried different styles of displaying our orchids over the years but we quite like a traditional bank of mixed flowering orchids set off with tropical ferns to fill in the gaps and soften the appearance. As this is an RHS event all exhibits are judged by RHS Orchid Judges and awarded an RHS medal if up to standard. There are certain things the judges are looking for to give you more points towards the higher medals. Good quality and healthy orchids with plenty of fresh flowers, not too many buds, are the main things. Also a good variation of types, specimen size plants help, as well as accurate labelling and not being able to see any flower pots. We cover any visible pots with moss which also needs to be tidy and healthy in appearance. The medals start at Bronze and go up through Silver, Silver-Gilt and then Gold. Out of the ten exhibits at the orchid show, four were awarded a Gold Medal, including ourselves! We were very pleased with this, it took Sara and Arthur all day to set up our display after a four hour drive and a dawn start, so was worth the effort!

The other Gold displays were for: The Writhlington School Orchid Project – a school near Bath who have had a long-standing orchid collection with superb plants all grown by the students. The Mathers Foundation – a recently set up organisation who grow a large variety of Oncidium and Pleione species and hybrids in Sussex. Helen Millner – an excellent educational display showing how orchids grow and tiny miniatures under a microscope.