Gardens
Find inspiration from gardens of all sizes both in the UK and internationally
After so much hot, dry weather, we're asking gardeners how they're faring this year
Growing and cultivating sanguisorba
With tight, bright burrs on wiry stems, long-flowering sanguisorbas offer a haze of gauzy colour
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.
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
Enter the charming world of the Bloomsbury Group in the romantic, cottage-style garden at Charleston
The gardens of Charleston, once home to painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, and the artistic residence of the Bloomsbury Group, are maintained in the spirit of that age
What's new?
Gardens to visit in August: the green spaces that will look perfect at this exact time of year
Want to see August flowers in full bloom? Head to these gardens and nurseries
This professional designer transformed his own typically long, narrow town garden into an urban oasis
Landscape architect Matt Evans has turned his typically long, narrow, town garden in Bath into a plantsman’s paradise.
'We must put ecology at the beginning of all our thoughts' - Alys Fowler on peat bogs and animism
Gardener and writer Alys Fowler on her new book, why she can’t grow carrots and why we need to value our peat bogs more
A space station garden and hovering wheelbarrows: is this what gardens will look like in 50 years?
This compendium of ten futuristic garden plans is absorbing, says Tim Richardson, but feels more like solutions to today’s problems than a vision of the future
The best beer garden in the country? This award-winning plot with beautiful planting was once a car park
The spirit of hospitality flourishes in designer Tabitha Rigden’s contemporary take on a pub garden at The Plough Shiplake, with a beautifully planted new outdoor space that was previously a car park
Rural
I design amazing natural swimming ponds for a living, and this is what I learned creating my own
For her own garden, Ellicar, swimming pond designer Sarah Murch has created a wildlife-focused landscape that is at one with nature
‘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
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 gardeners
From dancer to dairy farm: the yoghurt queen of Yeo Valley on launching a new festival in Somerset
The co-owner and head gardener of Yeo Valley Organic Garden on learning that life is not just a cabaret and why she’s launching a new garden festival
‘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
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
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 UK campsites with beautiful gardens for a perfect green spot this summer
From Victorian walled gardens to shaded clearings among wildflowers, we recommend the best campsites in the UK with beautiful gardens to get lost in
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
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
Take a sneak peek around this private seaside garden with its own jetty in the UK’s most expensive area
Helen Elks-Smith’s clever design for a garden overlooking Poole Harbour makes the most of its impressive views and is planted to resist the fierce winds
‘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.