Gardens
Find inspiration from gardens of all sizes both in the UK and internationally
Get more snowdrops for free using this nifty skill - a how to guide for propagating snowdrops
Margaret and David MacLennan have built up a collection of more than 2,000 snowdrop cultivars, thanks in part to Margaret’s skill in propagation. Margaret shares her propagation secrets with us.
The best places to see snowdrops in 2026
For snowdrop lovers, or galanthophiles, February is the month to venture out to admire spectacular displays of snowdrops. Here are some of our recommended gardens to visit.
The best snowdrops for your garden
John Sales, former head of gardens at the National Trust, recommends 12 of the best snowdrops to grow in your garden. Words Mary Keen.
Get a classic garden apron when you join as a member to Gardens Illustrated today
Get a classic garden apron when you join as a member to Gardens Illustrated today
'Be creative, bold and ambitious' says the Young Garden Designer of the Year
Edinburgh-based designer Luke has been creating gardens since 2017, and is winner of the 2025 RHS Young Garden Designer of the Year competition
What's new?
Don’t buy before you read this: the ultimate guide to creating the perfect pergola
Considering a garden pergola, but not sure where to start? Here’s everything you need to know before you buy or build one
The 9 biggest problems in your garden and the plants that can solve them
The 9 most common problems people raise about their gardens – and the best plants to use to sort them out
An ultra cool new garden designed by planting maestro Piet Oudolf on a former poultry farm
Piet Oudolf has transformed a former poultry farm in Berkshire into an all-season garden of contrasting colours and sculptural forms.
This back-to-front garden in the Cotswolds flips the expected to great effect
Emily Crowley-Wroe has used her own front garden in the Cotswolds to trial design and planting ideas.
The era of instant gardens is over
'Instant' gardens are still in high demand, says designer Miria Harris, but if we want to build a sustainable future, it’s time to embrace slowing down.
Rural
This is what happens when a garden designer couple with wildly different tastes take on a new home garden
Around their Cumbrian home, designers
Julie Toll and Ian Kitson have created a contemporary garden fully embedded in its heritage location.
Discover the jobs that keep the gardeners at Sissinghurst busy in winter
Troy Scott Smith, head gardener at Sissinghurst, explains how he and his team prepare the world-famous garden for the year ahead.
Photographs: John Campbell
'Maximum effect, minimum effort'. This Welsh country garden is a masterclass in autumn colour
Building on the work of generations of plantspeople, Elizabeth and Ross Murray have breathed fresh life into Llanover Garden in southeast Wales
Meet the gardeners
'Garden design gets too much coverage': Mary Keen on the importance of gardeners
The celebrated garden designer Mary Keen on the importance of gardening over design, not killing pelargoniums and forgetting what she’s planted
Tackle the hardest task first and think seven generations ahead: advice from Kew's Aimee Spanswick
Horticulturist at the new Carbon Garden at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Aimee is passionate about permaculture and dismantling outdated ideas
There's a worrying trend in US gardens that's driving one American man's inspiring work
The director of horticulture at Native Plant Trust on slug hunting, turning American gardeners into backyard conservationists and the power of mentoring
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.
Best UK gardens open for Boxing Day walks
Many UK gardens are open this festive season, so why not work off your Christmas indulgence between Boxing Day and New Year with a winter walk at one of these 13 great open gardens?
Great last minute Christmas gifts: gardening memberships and subscriptions for 2025
Looking for a Christmas gift for a gardener after the last Christmas post delivery date? We've got the best gardening membership and subscription gifts you can still buy and gift in time for Christmas
The most inspiring winter garden walks
It may be cold outside but you can still visit beautiful gardens over the winter months. Here's our top picks of UK open gardens to visit for a refreshing winter walk
Gardens of the world
Worldwide gardens you need to see
'It's like living inside a painting'. Piet Oudolf's dreamy Nantucket island garden
For this Nantucket island hideaway, the cedar-shingled buildings are nestled around a courtyard with an archetypal meadow by Piet Oudolf
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
Urban gardens
Amazing gardens from towns and cities
The perfect solution for a long, thin, sloping garden that the whole family can enjoy
Over 20 years, garden designer Emily Erlam has nurtured and edited the plants in her sloping city garden to create an intriguing, immersive space. She explains how.
This 1960s home has been transformed by a contemporary chic garden makeover
For her own garden, designer Lucy Willcox has transformed a sloping site, blending the wildness of a neighbouring common with the sharp lines of her 1960s home.
Instead of downsizing, this couple revamped their garden into a haven for them and their grandkids
By introducing bold swathes of planting, designer Barbara Samitier transformed a large lawn into an enticing garden with multitudes to discover