Gardens
Find inspiration from gardens of all sizes both in the UK and internationally
How to grow Persicaria
Persicaria are versatile perennials with late season, brightly coloured flower spikes on hearty green plants from July through to late October. Plantsman Rory Dusoir shares his advice on how to grow persicaria and where to plant it.
Dianthus: how to grow and propagate
Plant expert John Hoyland explains how to grow dianthus, where to plant it and when to take dianthus cuttings.
When to water plants in hot weather
In the heatwave, make sure you're watering your plants at the right time of day
Get a Niwaki small golden spade when you join as a member to Gardens Illustrated today
Save 25% + receive a Niwaki small golden spade when you join as a member to Gardens Illustrated today
A fabulous 15th-century home revived by Ptolemy Dean has a sensitively designed new garden by Tom Stuart-Smith
Landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith has worked closely with architect Ptolemy Dean to create a garden that unifies a 15th-century house and barn
What's new?
Discover the Victorian art of cyanotype photography revived with a modern horticultural twist by artist Sophie Cook
From her Derbyshire home, artist Sophie Cook brings her trained horticultural eye to the Victorian art of cyanotype photography
The best pick your own flower farms and gardens to visit to take home armfuls of beautiful blooms
Now is the season for filling your vases with freshly cut flowers to brighten the home. We recommend the best flower farms and gardens in the UK that invite you to pick your own blooms.
The best gardens to visit in July for summery colour
Nurseryman Keith Wiley recommends the best gardens to visit in July to see their plants in full bloom
The key jobs you need to get done in the garden in July
July is mainly a month of maintenance, of watering, feeding and pruning, as well as a time to pause and take pleasure in your achievements. Here's what to do in the garden this month.
July flowers to plant - the best for your garden this month
Discover some of the best July flowers and plants including a graceful daylily and a dwarf, claret sunflower
Rural
This is how you make a modern cottage garden: inspiring contemporary update tips from a revamped Cotswolds hideaway
The traditional English country garden gets a contemporary update at this renovated cottage in the Cotswolds, discovers Petra Hoyer Millar.
This clever country design is a masterclass in making a garden to soften that just-finished feel
For this Suffolk garden, designer Colm Joseph has created spaces that link the geometry of the new-build house to
the surrounding vistas of fields and trees beyond
Forgot crop rotation: polyculture is the new cool easy way to grow your own without weeding or worrying about pests
At Birch Farm in Devon, Joshua Sparkes is growing food in polycultures alongside pests and weeds with great success
Meet the gardeners
Meet the new head of gardens and parks at the National Trust with a passion for cabbages – Shelia Das
The new head of gardens and parks at the National Trust on the wonders of soil, the generosity of the gardening community and why cabbages will always blow her mind
Meet young landscaper Anna McLoughlin, forging a path in a traditionally male industry
Anna, a landscaper with Landform
Consultants, loves to feel immersed in the abundance of colourful blooms of cottage-garden style plantings.
Permaculture kind of got hijacked by hippies: meet YouTuber, writer and horticulturist Huw Richards
YouTuber, writer and horticulturist Huw Richards explains why his new book will make permaculture accessible, and how it might help you garden better
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.
The best places to pick your own sunflowers near you
Fancy picking some sunny blooms to brighten up your home? Here's our selection of the best PYO sunflower farms you can visit this summer
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.
The best lavender farms to visit for Instagram-worthy shots and heady scents of summer
Swathes of blue and purple as far as the eye can see – we recommend the best lavender farms to visit for a perfect summer day out
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
‘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
Parking space vs front garden? It is actually possible to have both
Off-street parking and an attractively planted front garden needn’t be mutually exclusive – there are lots of designs that combine the two.
You'll never believe what lies beneath this cottage-style garden in London
Designer Graham Lloyd-Brunt was put to the test when challenged to create a cottage-style potager in the city for his clients to grow the flowers and crops they wanted, but directly over a basement swimming pool