Gardeners World Ideas, Tips & Guides

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The furniture in your garden is about more than eating and relaxing, it also forms part of the overall design of the garden. The type, size and finish of the furniture comes into play, and the surrounding hard landscaping and planting can help turn your furniture choices into a design feature in their own right.

With the third series of the hit drama about to start and The Bridgerton Garden coming to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show later this month, now is the ideal time to invest in some new plants to bring a touch of Regency glamour and romance to your garden.

Join BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine on this exclusive event at the famous Le Manoir, a Belmond Hotel, where you’ll enjoy a garden tour and experience a culinary demonstration followed by a champagne reception and three-course Michelin-starred lunch.

Most gardens have some dry shade, at the foot of walls where foundations draw water from the soil, or under eaves where little rain falls. Trees also create dry shade, as their roots take up a lot of water.

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Late spring is the perfect time to give your borders a little attention, in order to keep them in good shape throughout summer. At this time, there’s still room between plants to negotiate a way through, so you can access plants at the back of the border before everything grows and knits together.

Bridgerton is coming to Chelsea this month, as Netflix makes its debut at the flower show, with a garden themed around its popular TV show. First time Chelsea designer Holly Johnston has created a garden based on the personal journey of the show’s main character, Penelope Featherington. The Bridgerton Garden is part of the Sanctuary Gardens area at the show.

Euphorbia is a large genus, with plants ranging from Christmas poinsettias and cowboy cacti to large shrubs like Euphorbia mellifera. The shrubby hardy varieties make excellent garden plants for a range of situations, depending on their size and preference.

Hydrangeas are much-loved deciduous hardy shrubs, some of which are climbers. Their striking flowerheads come in a range of shapes, from large balls to cones. The most popular and recognisable types are mophead and lacecap, which have large, rounded flowerheads in shades of white, blue and pink in summer and autumn.

If you have limited space indoors, there is still a range of house plants you can buy to add greenery to your home. Succulents and cacti offer the biggest choice of small house plants, but there’s a wealth of other varieties to enjoy, from air plants that grow without compost to the carnivorous Venus flytrap. As well as small plants, look for slow-growing house plants that take time to reach their mature height, such as the nerve plant. Windowsills, desks, hanging planters and shelves can all be enhanced by space-saving house plants.

Join us for a new podcast series of summer conversations with the BBC Gardeners’ World team. Listen to gardening inspiration from some of the UK’s most loved and well-respected gardening experts. With advice for adding colour to your garden, working with nature, boosting your wellbeing, thrifty gardening, veg growing and allotment life. We’ll also take you on a royal tour, go behind the scenes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, share garden designer secrets, tips for growing better roses, plant-based recipes with Deliciously Ella and much more. Plus, take a sneak peak inside the gardens of celebrities including Griff Rhys Jones and Caroline Quentin. Enjoy friendly gardening chat and informative discussion, perfect for everyone who loves gardening. With new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Subscribe now, wherever you get your podcasts, and never miss an episode.

Hebes are popular evergreen shrubs, mostly native to New Zealand although some are native to Australia and South America. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and are suitable for growing in a range of sites and planting schemes. Hebes are excellent in shrub borders, used as ground cover or low-growing hedging, and are relatively low-maintenance.

May growing with Rachel

Do you remember that garden Bunny Guinness designed at Chelsea Flower Show in 2011? You know, the one with the beautiful hazel-hurdle-raised-beds burgeoning with edibles and ornamentals. Well, if you don’t, it was stunning. I could not stop staring at its honed perfection. But, I thought at the time, ‘this is a Chelsea Garden that can’t be recreated in reality’. So, was I right? Can you combine ornamentals and vegetables without either party being compromised? Can you truly make a space that is at once pretty, productive and practical?

May growing with Cel

The orange-tip is one of the first butterflies of the year to emerge and can be found nectaring on spring flowers such as bluebells and cuckoo flower. The male is white with orange wing tips while the female has black wing tips – both sexes have beautiful mottled underwings, which are visible when mating and resting. After mating the female lays eggs on the flower stalks of cuckoo flower and hedge mustard, but in gardens may also lay on honesty and sweet rocket.

May is a busy month in the garden, with seeds to sow, young plants to harden off and plant out, and spring shrubs to prune – not to mention leaving enough time to enjoy the warmer, longer days. The risk of frost will be over in most areas by the end of the month, so tender and half-hardy plants such as dahlias, zinnia and cosmos can be planted outside, ready for dazzling summer displays.

Oenothera (previously known as gaura) are pretty, deciduous perennials that look great in cottage garden-style or informal plantings. Also known as wandflower, oenotheras have a relaxed habit with small, starry flowers in white or pink, appearing from early summer to autumn. They are perfect for filling gaps and can also be grown in containers, in an informal combination with grasses and trailing plants.

People often talk about the ‘May gap’, when spring plants begin to fade and the burgeoning summer growth is yet to appear. Though if, like me, you allow a little room for some wildness, May can be one of the most abundant months, with cow parsley, bluebells, hawthorn blossom, foxgloves and columbine alongside cultivated Solomon’s seal and the first hardy geraniums and delphiniums in your borders. For me, the impact of this is breathtaking: soft, green and zinging.

Campanulas are a diverse group of plants, including small, creeping species and towering perennials (meaning they come back each year). All have beautiful, usually blue, flowers, and most are attractive to pollinators.

As part of your Premium access, you can send your gardening questions to our horticultural experts each month. They will then answer a selection of the questions they receive, and share the advice at the end of the month.

Mention Mediterranean gardens and you’re likely to imagine alfresco dining, soft colour palettes, citrus trees in terracotta pots and sun-loving perennials, all awash with the heady scents of herbs such as lavender and thyme. But you don’t need to travel to Greece or Italy to enjoy this kind of outdoor living. Mediterranean-style gardens are becoming more popular in the UK as many areas become more susceptible to drought, due to the climate crisis. Planting with species that have naturally evolved to live in hot, dry conditions means your garden will be more resilient in dry periods and more sustainable in its use of water – an extremely precious resource during our increasingly hot summers.

When you’re growing plants in containers, whether indoors or outside, knowing how much water a plant needs can be a challenge but self-watering planters and pots take a lot of that pressure away. The amount of water a plant requires can depend on the species, the time of year and growing conditions. In hot, dry summers they may need watering every couple of days, but in winter they may need it only every few weeks. Designed to allow plants to draw up water when they need it, self-watering planters are a convenient option to prevent overwatering, look after plants when you go away or simply provide a little peace of mind. Most importantly though, they provide plants with a consistent supply of water, reducing plant stress and helping to produce healthy, vigorous growth.

The umbrella plant is popular for its large leaves that are held on a long stem, with five long leaves spanning out like the canopy of an umbrella. There are two species of umbrella plant, Schefflera, that make good house plants – Schefflera arboricola and Schefflera actinophylla. These are both easy to grow and low maintenance, being able to cope with a bit of neglect when it comes to watering. These house plants are fast growing, reaching up to 3m, with evergreen foliage that will make an impact in the corner of a room. The most common one found online is Schefflera arboricola, which is native to China and its cultivar ‘Nora’, which is more compact than the species, reaching only 1.5m tall. There is also ‘Gold Capella’, which has yellow margins on its leaves.

Summer wouldn’t be summer without dahlias. Their beautiful flowers come in almost every colour imaginable, from pale pastels to hot, vibrant shades. They come in a range of flower shapes, from small tight balls to lily-like blooms the size of dinner plates. They’re perfect for adding late summer colour to borders from July to October and look good in any style of garden, from a cottage-style border to a jungle or exotic scheme. They look especially good with cosmos, grasses, Verbena bonariensis or cannas.

Hollyhocks (Alcea) have long been associated with cottage gardens. Perfect for the back of a border, they grow up to 2m in height. Each stem bears masses of open, bee-friendly flowers measuring up to 10cm in diameter, from July to September. Hollyhocks are biennial or short-lived perennials. In the first year they put on root and foliage growth and in the second they flower, set seed and then die.

Sea hollies (Eryngium) have spiky leaves and thistle-like flowers in colours ranging from grey to intense cobalt blue, surrounded by a characteristic ‘ruff’. They make striking garden plants and have excellent wildlife value, particularly for pollinators. There are over 250 species of Eryngium, including plenty of cultivated varieties. As their name suggests, they grow well in coastal areas. They look wonderful in gravel gardens or mixed herbaceous borders.

Holly, Ilex aquifolium, typically has dark green, spiny leaves and bright red berries. However, there are many different varieties of holly with different coloured laves and berries – more than 400 from around the world.

Potentillas are hardy garden plants that are divided into two groups: shrubby potentillas and perennial potentillas. Both types are commonly known as cinquefoil. Shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa) has twiggy arching branches and finely divided, deciduous green leaves, from which long-lasting displays of five-petalled, saucer shaped flowers are borne in summer. Perennial potentillas are clump-forming and make a handsome summer display of saucer-shaped flowers on slender stems. Both types make excellent plants for garden borders and are easy to grow, requiring very little maintenance.

When you’re pruning in the garden, rather than adding the spent branches to your green bin or bagging them up and taking them to the recycling centre, why not make the most of this valuable resource by shredding it for the compost or for use as a mulch? A garden shredder chips garden waste so that it takes up less room and breaks down quickly and easily, and if you want to save money on compost and mulch in the future, they’re an essential piece of kit.

It’s unusual to find a shrub or tree with blue flowers, so if you’re looking for a shock of blue to light up your garden, look no further than a ceanothus. When in flower it’s a stunning sight, smothered in flowers in shades that range from powder blue to deep azure.

A lush, green lawn is a source of pride and joy for many gardeners but it’s often where all the action takes place in the garden. The focal point for gatherings with friends and family, it can suffer from overuse and too much wear and tear. Terrific turf needs a good lawn care regime to achieve it and while regular mowing and watering will take you so far, there are a couple of additional tasks for your to do list, which will help keep your lawn in tip-top condition. Regardless of how often you cut your lawn, over time the soil underneath the turf becomes compacted, while above ground a thick, impenetrable layer of thatch and organic debris develops around the roots. This undesirable combination prevents air, water and nutrients from reaching deep down to the grass’ root system and ultimately weakens its growth, leaving the plant susceptible to pests and diseases. Scarifying your lawn will help remove thatch and debris, but if you need to relieve compacted soil underneath the turf, it’s best to aerate it. Aeration is the process of making air holes in the lawn to create ventilation. In small lawns a simple garden fork can be used to push holes into the ground but you can also buy manual aerators, either solid or hollow tined, which require the same effort as a fork. However, if you have a lot of lawn and not much time, other types of aerator are probably the best option. Whether you’re pushing a roller covered in spikes, or using a powered machine, these aerators are a labour-saving version of the trusty garden fork, mechanically making a series of holes in the lawn.

Golden pothos (Epipremnum or Scindapsus) not only has pretty, heart-shaped foliage that trails or climbs, but it’s also one of the easiest house plants to grow. It’s tolerant of all kinds of conditions and neglect – it’s thought it gets one of its common names, devil’s ivy, because it can grow in low light levels and is virtually impossible to kill. Golden pothos can be trained up a pole or along wires on a wall, and also looks brilliant hanging from a shelf or hanging basket.

The English walnut (Juglans regia) is a non-native deciduous tree that has been grown in the UK since Roman times. Although most trees are planted, self-sown trees do sometimes appear in warmer areas. Originating from southern Europe and parts of Asia, English walnut can now be found growing across the UK.

Leyland cypress (x Cuprocyparis leylandii) is a fast-growing conifer with dense, evergreen, green or golden yellow foliage. It’s a popular choice for hedging but it can easily grow out of control, reaching heights of up to 40m, and then cannot be re-shaped to a neat hedge. It’s a common source of neighbourly disputes, thanks to blocked light.