Alongside exhibiting at RHS Malvern 2026, I'm excited to announce that Tom's Yard is also supporting this year's mean feature garden - aptly named Clay: The ‘Super Soil’.
Coordinated by the multiple-award winning Designer Martyn Wilson of Wilson Associates Garden Design, the garden aims to celebrate clay in every form; as a soil, and as a wider material used in landscaping.
All of the materials used throughout the garden are sourced from local manufacturers & supplies across the West Midlands, being as local as possible to the Three Counties Showground.
Planting
Trees, shrubs and plants throughout the garden demonstrate those species best suited to planting in clay soils, including an orchard area underplanted with wildflower turf providing a space for the public to sit and enjoy the garden and the Festival.
Wider Suppliers
A timber framed structure created with locally sourced timber from Herefordshire, is clad in clay tiles manufactured in the West Midlands by a 200-year-old family run business, from soils sourced in Staffordshire. Feature walls also clad with tiles are set amongst the planting and shelter the space alongside hedging suitable for clay soils including native species.
The accessible pathways are created using self-binding gravel and lead to brick paver terraces sourced from the West Midlands. The pathway winds past a series of raised timber beds with a window into the soil ‘horizons’, demonstrating differing methods of working with clay soils from traditional mulching to a ‘No Dig’ approach, or ‘Cut and Drop’ method.
A striking sculpture created by the renowned sculptor Simon Gudgeon brings art and a focal point into the garden and is inspired by the fruit growing history of the the Three Counties.
