Plants
Plants, how to plant, what to plant
The best plants for August
As summer reaches its peak Tom Brown, the head gardener at West Dean Gardens, picks his favourite August flowers. Photographs Jason Ingram
Sarah Raven picks seven of her favourite dahlias
We visited Sarah Raven's Perch Hill and now we hear from Sarah about some of her favourite Dahlia varieties.
Struggling with slugs? Here are 38 slug-proof plants and flowers that won't get munched by molluscs
Looking for plants that won't get munched by slugs? Instead of using slug controls, why not grow plants that the molluscs just don't like? Here's 38 to choose from
How to use phlox to add colour and freshness to a late summer border
With highly fragrant blooms, this stalwart of the English flower garden brings some cool, fresh colour to late summer borders.
Words: Matthew Reese, Photographs: Jason Ingram
How to care for your teak garden furniture
If you already have teak garden furniture, or you are considering buying teak for your outdoor space, here’s how to look after this attractive hardwood
What's new?
20 great flowers for drying: experts pick the garden flowers that will look perfect when you dry them
Preserve the fleeting summer beauty of your garden by drying flowers to enjoy year round indoors. We’ve asked three expert growers to recommend the best dried flowers to grow
An old steel bathtub planter sets out a pretty woodland display using Hydrangea paniculata 'Phantom'
Award-winning designer Jo Thompson offers container-planting inspiration with this idea for a pot display for high summer
This former brownfield site has been transformed into a natural managed meadow garden that's a haven for wildlife
Out of the rubble of a former brownfield site, Jo McKerr has
created a beautiful and natural managed-meadow garden. Words Alys Fowler. Photographs Jason Ingram.
100 beautiful plants and flowers you'll love in your garden recommended by head gardeners and experts
Head gardeners from some of the most spectacular gardens around pick their top beautiful plants and flowers
The best and most beautiful garden plants for butterflies that you will love too
Make your garden attractive to vital pollinators with these suggestions of plants that butterflies love
Autumn
Winter interest | Top roses for rosehips
A rosehip is the 'fruit’ of the rose, coming after the summer flowers and
offering vibrant colour in the winter garden. Discover the top roses to grow for rosehips and how to care for them to get the best display.
Rudbeckia: how to grow and care for rudbeckia
Vibrant rudbeckias bring bold colour to the garden in late summer and autumn. Here's how to grow them, and the best varieties to choose
30 plants that will make your garden look good all year-round
These hard-working plants provide several seasons of interest in your garden through flowers, fruit, foliage, bark and even spring shoots
Bulbs
As our climate gets hotter, we may see fewer white plants
Plant ecologist Ken Thompson explains the effect that climate change could have on the colour of your plants
Alliums aren’t just for spring – keep those purple globes going all summer with these amazing new varieties
Loved for their showy spheres, alliums have long been stalwarts of late spring, but now new introductions are extending the party through summer. Our summer-flowering allium grow guide explains the best varieties to grow, how to care for them and where to plant.
21 brilliant bulbs to plant that will give you colour in every season
Garden designer Adam Hunt recommends his favourite bulbs for colour almost all year round.
Flowers
56 beautiful, bee-friendly plants that will make your garden buzz
Create a buzz in your garden by adding the plants that bees love best.
How and when to prune lavender and the best lavender varieties for your garden
Fragrant, drought tolerant and easy to grow, lavenders are popular plants that suit many different styles of garden. Discover more with our lavender expert grow guide.
Words: Janice Shipp, Photograhs: Annaick Guitteny
Beautiful pink, orange, red and white poppies for your garden and how to care for them
The scarlet poppy may be one of the most instantly recognisable flowers, but with more than 70 species of Papaver, in a range of shapes and colours, there’s one for every garden. Plant expert John Hoyland picks the best and gives his growing advice
House plants
Asparagus fern: Everything you need to know about this ideal house plant
Attractive foliage and a near-indestructible nature make the asparagus fern great indoor companions. Illustration Patrick Morgan
Houseplants | How to look after the blue star fern
Ferns sparked the first houseplant craze and are still a great houseplant choice, especially the unfussy Phlebodium aureum. Illustration Agata Wierzbicka
Why it became one woman’s mission to rescue 200 unwanted houseplants
Find out why it became one woman’s mission to rescue over 200 unwanted house plants, and how saving them has led to a worldwide following
Planting ideas
Get inspiration for your garden and discover which plants will work best and where
The best plants for July
Discover some of the best July flowers and plants including a graceful daylily and a dwarf, claret sunflower. Photographs Jason Ingram
The beautiful plants you'll find in a meadow and why planting up a meadow is a hard, but brilliant way to increase biodiversity
The best plants for a meadow recommended from Manor Farm and a modernist house in California specialising in structural meadow plants
34 beautiful white flowers to grow
Discover some of the most beautiful white flowers around and learn how to make a stunning white border to delight from early spring to late summer
Pots
A graceful planter of purple hues using rosemary, lavender and lemon verbena
Award-winning designer Jo Thompson offers container-planting inspiration with this idea for a pot display for high summer
A stylish summer container display using Pelargonium 'White Boar'
Head gardener Thomas Unterdorfer shows how to create a stunning container display with a gently wild style for early summer. Photographs Andrew Montgomery
A soft summer meadow planter using poppies and sanguisorba
Head gardener Jenny Barnes creates a summer meadow in a basket, featuring grasses and poppies that will thrive into autumn
Shrubs
The best daphne for year-round colour and scent
Daphnes are shrubs that are best known for their scented flowers in winter, but some flower in spring and summer too. Shrub expert Andy McIndoe chooses 12 of the best daphnes to grow. Photographs by Dianna Jazwinski
Wondering what jobs to get done this summer? Let Sissinghurst's expert head gardener guide you
Sissinghurst’s head gardener Troy Scott Smith guides us through the jobs that he and his team do in summer. Images by John Campbell
26 of the best flowering shrubs for your garden that are beautiful for flowers and bees love them
We recommend 26 of the best flowering shrubs, so that with careful planning, you can enjoy flowers in your garden for 12 months of the year.
Spring
The best varieties of thalictrum and how to grow
Often thought of as tall, airy plants with finely cut foliage and a froth of flower, thalictrum are, in fact, much more varied. Organic gardener and plant expert Val Bourne is your guide to growing thalictrum and recommends the best varieties. Photographs Lynn Keddie
Peonies that can last for 100 years: the remarkable plants that can come with a high price tag
At Primrose Hall Nursery Alec White specialises in breeding rare and desirable intersectional peonies – plants that can last for 100 years. Words Alys Fowler, photographs Richard Bloom
How to grow peonies
Peonies offer voluptuous blooms to grace your garden from late spring until July. Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall and Claire Austin give tips on how to grow these alluring flowers
Summer
Reducing plastic in your garden and allotment
The invention of plastic changed how we gardened forever. Now it is everywhere, here's why we need to deal carefully with our plastic usage and how to get closer to a zero waste garden. llustration Vicki Turner
Sunflowers: the best varieties and how to grow
Sunflowers' robust nature and blooms beaming with good-natured, bucolic honesty make them worthy of a place in any garden. Writer and gardener Matthew Biggs is your guide to growing sunflowers and chooses his favourite cultivars. Photographs Jason Ingram
The best cosmos to grow
Cosmos are as brilliant in the garden as they are in the vase. Plant expert Graham Rice chooses his favourite cosmos varieties to grow, and gives advice on sowing and growing them. Photographs by Jason Ingram
Trees
Trees at risk of extinction: six trees under threat
Forestry England's Westonbirt Arboretum is home to 15,000 specimen trees. Dan Crowley global conservation consortia manager at botanic gardens conservation international tell us about some of the species that are in danger of being lost. Cover image Johnny Hathaway
How to prune wisteria
Wisteria needs to be pruned twice a year to keep it in good shape and to ensure abundant flowers. Here's how to do it. Photographs by Gavin Kingcome.
Japanese cherries blossom early in gardens across the UK
Warmer weather has meant Cherry trees have been blossoming much earlier this year
Winter
9 new plants you won't have heard of that you should grow this year
We asked expert plantspeople, designers and gardeners which brand new and recently introduced plants they are excited about growing this year
17 plants that can cope with winter wet
As temperatures and climates change, the need to grow resilient plants becomes more necessary for the gardener. Here expert plantsman and landscape designer Cassian Schmidt picks out his top choices of plants for winter wet soil
Get the Great Dixter planting look with the plants Fergus Garrett couldn't live without
One of the UK's most innovative gardeners, head gardener at Great Dixter, Fergus Garrett, shares the plants he loves the most. Portrait Jim Holden