The Garden Museum’s annual Spring Plant Fair returns on Sunday 14 April, gathering specialist plant nurseries and growers from around the country for a day of plant shopping, talks and workshops for city gardeners. Stalls will include Great Dixter Nursery and Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens, providing a rare opportunity for Londoners to shop garden plants grown by these beloved and historic nurseries.

This popular plant fair has been held at the Garden Museum for over forty years, celebrating the arrival of spring and the start of the gardening calendar. From shade specialists to plants for pollinators, meet the growers and pick their brains on what will flourish in your garden, balcony or allotment. Further stalls will include specialist growers such as Moore & Moore Plants, The Kew Plantsman, Zophian Plants, Benton irises from Vegelicious of Hadleigh and Friends of Arnold Circus.

This year’s fair will also feature a programme of talks and workshops on growing flowery annuals, seed sowing and increasing wildlife and biodiversity in small spaces, as well as a cookery demo and tasting in our studio kitchen.

Programme curated with garden designer Susanna Grant, founder of Hackney-based shade specialist plant shop Hello There Linda. Supported using public funding from Arts Council England.

Programme

Willow Climber Making
10.30am
Have a go at making your own willow plant climber to take home. You will learn about the different types of willow to use, two different styles of weaving and aftercare. Weaving is calming, therapeutic and productive so come and join us in the wonderfully Dan Pearson-designed Healing Garden in Old Paradise Gardens across the road from the Garden Museum for a couple of hours of obelisk weaving.

Worm Compost Bins
10.30am
Amy Chapman from @inthecottagegarden shows how to use worms to turn food waste into compost. Using recycled materials, you can create your own worm farm to help break down food scraps into an amazing nutrient-dense soil enhancer for your garden.

Zophian Plants on setting up a nursery of drought-tolerant perennials
11am
Toby Shuall left London for East Sussex in 2020 with four van loads of plants to begin his long time desire to open a nursery. Inspired by his observations of the drought tolerance of certain plants left to fend for themselves in neglected parks, he started propagate at home in Peckham. Zophian Plants now grow a unique collection of adaptable perennials, all grown in peat-free, sand-based mediums, that can cope with changing conditions, especially drought.

Benny Hawksbee on Plants for Solitary Bees
12.15pm
The importance of plants for pollinators in urban environments is vital. This talk will help you understand which plants to choose, the wide variety of pollinators, the importance of providing food and habitat for solitary bees and a basic solitary bee ID so you can spot any that come to your garden.

Starting Seeds Workshop
2pm
Often the sowing of these tiny pips gets unnecessarily overcomplicated. Let’s go over the basics of effective sourcing, seed sowing, pricking out, growing on, and saving seeds plus take home a small pot of seeded joy. Essential for anyone who wants to start growing, even in a tiny space, or just to refresh yourself with the fundamentals of successful sowing.