A Dragons Den style competition for budding garden designers was laun-ched at Malvern Spring Gardening Show The prize will be a 12- month bursary under the wing of celebrity gardener Chris Beardshaw and leading to a guaranteed exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2009.

"This will be a unique opportunity for the new breed of garden designer to win a mentoring scholarship," said Mr Beardshaw.

He explained it will be open to gardeners creating a display garden for next year's Malvern show, no matter what their age or experience. The applicants will then have to make their pitch and present their portfolio to a panel of experts including Mr Beardshaw and an RHS official.

The prize will go to the person who puts forward the best business case and, makes the greatest impression on the panel overall.

They will then build a court yard garden with Mr Beardshaw which will be displayed at the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show.

"We are all very excited by this new project which, as far as we know, is a first on the gardening show circuit," he said.