From the glamour and excitement of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show to the laid-back charm of the Great Comp Summer Show, our round up of this year’s best flower shows, festivals and events.
We'll be updating this article through the year so be sure to check back for what's new. Bookmark it for quick and easy re-finding!
So, let's make some plans and make the most of what's going on. Here's what you've got to look forward to in 2025...
For more fascinating garden festivals this year, see: 11 cool, alternative garden festivals and events to enjoy this summer
Gardens Illustrated events and show guide 2025
On now
Until 25 January 2026: Garden Futures: Designing with Nature, Dundee
In this colourful new V&A exhibition showcasing more than 400 artefacts using light, sound, texture and garden scents, visitors walk through an immersive hedge maze, wooden greenhouse and woven floral wall among other nature-inspired spaces. Expect to see everything from the earliest international examples of design to contemporary creations by icons like Piet Oudolf; dresses made with wheatgrass roots to William Morris artwork and contemporary videogames.
The area surrounding the waterfront museum has also been revitalised with colourful and biodiverse planting.
Open 10am - 5pm
Tickets £7.50 – £16
Location V&A Dundee, 1 Riverside Esplanade, Dundee DD1 4EZ
Web vam.ac.uk
Coming up
Sunday 7 December: Beautiful & Useful Christmas Fair
Beautiful & Useful is heading back to London's Garden Museum for its eighth annual Christmas fair. Browse curated treasures including mechanical toys, velvet toadstool decorations, Claverton Cloches, wooden garden tools, ceramic vases and other beautiful homewares.
There's also the chance to take part in workshops making straw or tin decorations, and enjoy a seasonal lunch and freshly baked snacks from the garden café.
Timings 10am-4pm
Tickets £5
Location Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB
Web beautiful-useful.co.uk
JANUARY 2026
Thursday 15-Friday 16 January: Wilding Gardens, Manchester
Aimed at anyone interested in learning more about how our gardens are crucial for rewilding and biodiversity, this two-day conference of ideas brings together inspiring voices in horticulture and environmental science to show how we can garden to save wildlife and resources, and tackle climate change.
The event comes from Isabella Tree of the renowned West Sussex rewilding project Knepp, along with iconic garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith, and will feature leading figures including Professor James Hitchmough, Great Dixter's Fergus Garrett and ecological grower Poppy Okotcha, among many others.
Timings Thursday 10am - 6pm / Friday 9am - 4pm
Tickets From £100
Location University of Manchester, 176 Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL
Web wildinggardens.co.uk
MAY 2026
9 May - 27 September: Henry Moore’s art at Kew Gardens and Wakehurst
Kew and Wakehurst will host the largest ever showcase of art from the internationally recognised 20th century artist Henry Moore. The exhibition will feature 30 artworks across Kew's landscape and inside the Temperate House - the world's biggest Victorian glasshouse - as well as 90 works in Kew's Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, which will encompass bronzes, stone and wood carvings, prints and drawings, exploring Moore’s unique process of ‘thinking through nature’.
From 5 June, Wakehurst (Kew's wild botanic garden in Sussex) will open a parallel exhibition of four additional Moore sculptures, alongside new commissioned pieces from contemporary artists.
Dates 9 May-27 Sep 2026 (Kew) / 5 June-27 Sep (Wakehurst)
Tickets Included in ticket to Kew/Wakehurst / Universal Credit £1 / 16–29-year-olds £10
Location Kew, Richmond, London TW9 3AE / Wakehurst, Ardingly, Haywards Heath, Sussex RH17 6TN
Web kew.org / kew.org/wakehurst
Dates and prices correct at time of publication. Please check details for each show prior to travelling.
