Gardens
Find inspiration from gardens of all sizes both in the UK and internationally
Cottage-core style: discover the best plants for a beautiful cottage garden
Looking to create a charming cottage garden feel in your garden? Marcus Eyles picks the plants you need
15 easy, reliable and beautiful flowers to grow for cutting, chosen by expert flower farmers
Three professional cut-flower growers recommend the plants they couldn’t live without – all reliable, easy to grow, robust and beautiful in the vase
Nigel Slater didn’t think he liked flowers – but now has a garden full of them
Now that his once largely green garden is bursting with colour, Nigel Slater wonders why it took him so long to fill it with flowers
POV: You’ve inherited an historic English hall with two moats and incredible gardens – now what?
Once home to garden designer Xa Tollemache, Helmingham Hall is now under the care of a new generation of Tollemaches and is as glorious as ever, especially in winter when its bones are laid bare.
Words: Chris Young, Photographs: Richard Bloom
The founder of Common Farm Flowers, Georgie Newbery, on swapping haute couture for cut flowers
The founder of Common Farm Flowers on swapping fashion for cut flowers, finding her feet on social media and why she’s staying firmly organic
What's new?
This Insta florist’s secrets to beautiful, simple arrangements (it’s all down to choosing the right vase)
Florist Sarah Statham reveals the secret to creating striking natural floral displays: adapting to the shape of your vessel.
Five great tips from Yeo Valley on how to go organic in the garden
Sarah Mead, owner and creator of Yeo Valley Organic Garden, gives her top tips on putting nature first when gardening
‘I am finding heroes in a community that values individuality and experimental approaches. It’s an exciting time.’
Accountant-cum-freelance-gardener Chatu loves experimenting with plant sculptures and exploring the UK’s wild watersides
The plant obsessives who have packed their Welsh garden with a host of unusual flowers
From rare hydrangeas to prairie-inspired borders, the Welsh garden of plant obsessives Roger and Jenny Lloyd is packed with floral treasures
These flamboyant shrubs are long-flowering and change subtly over the season - here's how to grow Hydrangea paniculata
Add a sense of grandeur to your garden with these deciduous shrubs that flower in late summer and early autumn.
Rural
He commissioned Piet Oudolf’s first UK garden, and now John Coke has a new plot that channels the essence of the Dutch master
Known for commissioning Piet Oudolf’s first UK garden, plantsman John Coke has moved on and created a brand-new, personal garden on the South Downs
Enter the charming world of the Bloomsbury Group in the romantic, cottage-style garden at Charleston
The gardens of Charleston, once home to painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, and the artistic residence of the Bloomsbury Group, are maintained in the spirit of that age
The best beer garden in the country? This award-winning plot with beautiful planting was once a car park
The spirit of hospitality flourishes in designer Tabitha Rigden’s contemporary take on a pub garden at The Plough Shiplake, with a beautifully planted new outdoor space that was previously a car park
Meet the gardeners
From dancer to dairy farm: the yoghurt queen of Yeo Valley on launching a new festival in Somerset
The co-owner and head gardener of Yeo Valley Organic Garden on learning that life is not just a cabaret and why she’s launching a new garden festival
'We must put ecology at the beginning of all our thoughts' - Alys Fowler on peat bogs and animism
Gardener and writer Alys Fowler on her new book, why she can’t grow carrots and why we need to value our peat bogs more
A space station garden and hovering wheelbarrows: is this what gardens will look like in 50 years?
This compendium of ten futuristic garden plans is absorbing, says Tim Richardson, but feels more like solutions to today’s problems than a vision of the future
Gardens to visit
Visiting a beautiful garden can be a wholly enriching experience. The benefits of visiting a garden – from mental health right through to exercise – are huge, and garden days out are perfect ways to have fun on your own, or as an entire family.
Regardless of how, and whoever you visit with, we have a host of suggestions of which gardens to visit, from gardens for the season, through to the gardens that are in full bloom and at their best each month. We have collated lists of the best gardens to visit with the help of our experts and many years of visiting gardens all around the UK, and beyond. We have gardens organised by theme, days out and local area, so you should find something for wherever you are and whatever garden experience you are looking for.
Enjoy our comprehensive guide to the best gardens to visit in the UK.
11 cool, alternative garden festivals and events to enjoy this summer
From a compost festival to an exhibition displaying a 1500s gardening manual, there are plenty of fascinating events to attend this summer.
Gardens to visit in August: the green spaces that will look perfect at this exact time of year
Want to see August flowers in full bloom? Head to these gardens and nurseries
The best UK campsites with beautiful gardens for a perfect green spot this summer
From Victorian walled gardens to shaded clearings among wildflowers, we recommend the best campsites in the UK with beautiful gardens to get lost in
Gardens of the world
Worldwide gardens you need to see
We bought an abandoned olive grove and brought it back to life with a meadow-style garden of wildflowers
A hillside garden in southern Italy with a distinctly Mediterranean planting palette is alive with the echoes of civilisations past
There’s no lawn or ugly play kit but my kids still love our garden: how to make yours both family friendly and beautiful
Dutch garden and landscape designer Arjan Boekel has transformed his tiny town garden in the Netherlands into a miniature woodland glade
Clever terracing rescued this amazing Mediterranean dry garden on a hillside in Ibiza with stunning views
With a brief to create a terraced garden in the Ibizan countryside, designer Juan Masedo has balanced the ancient and the modern in a remarkably subtle scheme
Urban gardens
Amazing gardens from towns and cities
This professional designer transformed his own typically long, narrow town garden into an urban oasis
Landscape architect Matt Evans has turned his typically long, narrow, town garden in Bath into a plantsman’s paradise.
Take a sneak peek around this private seaside garden with its own jetty in the UK’s most expensive area
Helen Elks-Smith’s clever design for a garden overlooking Poole Harbour makes the most of its impressive views and is planted to resist the fierce winds
‘I have become obsessed. I’m always trying new things’ - the maverick Essex gardener who does things his own way
In his experimental garden in south Essex, John Little is prioritising habitat over planting, without compromising on aesthetics