AS the Three Counties Showground begins to transform itself for the annual Spring Gardening Show, gardeners, designers and artists are getting ready to show their wares to the public.

Among those is Marie-Therese King, a 33-year-old artist from Abbey Road, Malvern.

She works in batik and sandblasted glass and will be exhibiting her work and pictures under the banner of the Worcestershire Guild of Designer Craftsmen.

"It's a very good place to promote and sell work to a large audience," she said.

"They get thousands of people through and it's a really great place to get seen. A lot of my work is wildlife or flower-based, so I've got a target audience there."

Miss King also runs art and puppetry workshops for children across the region.

Wil Leaper and Bridget Evans, of Caves Folly Nurseries, in Colwall, are also preparing for the show.

They have a permanent garden at the showground and have exhibited every year since the the event first began, with just 3,000 visitors. This year, more than 80,000 visitors are expected to attend.

Mr Leaper said he hoped to raise the profile of solely organic nurseries, such as the one he and Ms Evans run.

"It's good for a local profile," he said.

"We promote both sides of the business there, landscape and design as well as the nursery itself. The shows are great fun, they get you back among the public and sharing ideas with other designers."

Song of the Earth, a Malvern- based garden design company run by Fiona Hopes, is creating a Classical Seven-Circuit Labyrinth from turf and bark for the show.

The Spring Gardening Show, organised by the Three Counties Agricultural Society and the Royal Horticultural Society, runs from Friday, May 9, to Sunday, May 11. Opening times are 9am to 6pm.

Tickets on the day start at £11.50. For more information, call 01684 584900.