Gardens
Find inspiration from gardens of all sizes both in the UK and internationally
Gardening events and shows in 2025
All the big names in one place. Here's our guide to the gardening calendar's biggest and best gardening events for the year ahead
‘It’s been a surreal experience’ – Tresco’s subtropical paradise island was a dream come true for one young gardener
Tresco Abbey Gardens Scholar Holly Doyle loves the exotic plants she now cares for, and can lose herself for hours exploring other gardens
‘You’ll never have to water again’ – this drought-proof gravel garden is a cool dream on hot summer days
Designer Matthew Wilson chose colourful, scented, drought-resilient planting for this zero-irrigation hilltop garden in Surrey
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
Four drought-tolerant planting combinations
A selection of planting ideas from the Filippis’ Le Jardin Sec in France, which specialises in planting for drought.
What's new?
How to make sure Persicaria doesn't take over and other tips on using the versatile perennial Piet Oudolf uses at Hauser & Wirth Somerset
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.
Think pinks are old fashioned? Think again: here's the secret attraction of dianthus and how to find a place for them in your garden
Plant expert John Hoyland explains how to grow dianthus, where to plant it and when to take dianthus cuttings.
There's a wrong time to water your plants in hot weather - an expert explains the perfect time to water your plants in a heat wave
In the heatwave, make sure you're watering your plants at the right time of day
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
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
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
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
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 flowers
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
Nurseryman Keith Wiley recommends the best gardens to visit in July to see their plants in full bloom
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
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