Garden Design and Outdoor Living

Clever garden design and landscaping ideas for outdoor entertaining, relaxing and cooking.

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2 Sections

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Pergolas make a great focal point in gardens, and there's a wide range of plants they can support.

A large pergola with a rill running through the centre and plants growing outside.

Pergolas

11 Pins

Nine container combinations, ideal for a position in full sun.

This clever design technique shows how to create impact by using the same plant in several different containers. Here, hostas are the filler of choice (ideal for a shady spot) with a selection of terracotta pots completing the scene.

Difficulty: Medium

Water adds a new dimension to any garden and our pond-in-a-pot is the ideal place to grow miniature waterlilies and other small aquatic plants. This idea is quick and easy to make and requires minimal care.

Tin bath, or other large container

Waterproof sealant

Bricks (six)

Medium planting baskets (three)

Aquatic compost (4l)

Assorted aquatic plants (six)

Oxygenating plants (two)

Washed pea gravel

Large feature stone, a little taller than the height of the container

Small Garden Design

Pink Garden Swing Chair

Hands up if you remember the stunning QVC 'My Garden Escape' garden, designed by Kitti Kovacs, at BBC Gardeners' World Live 2024? 💕 With gorgeous alliums, vibrant salvias, and towering foxgloves, it was a true showstopper – and the good news is, they’re returning to #BBCGWLive 2025 with an even bigger garden! Expect more lush planting, more beautiful colours, and more inspiring ideas to transform your outdoor space. With thanks to 2024 #BeautifulBorder sponsor @‌QVCUK, plus garden product s...

This may contain: the garden is full of plants and rocks

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Gardens of the Year: Andy Spray

Andy Spray moved into his home outside Leicester 22 years ago. Since then, he has used his garden as a creative outlet, turning it into a lush space filled with personality, much-loved plants and eye-catching sculptures. Andy was a finalist in our Gardens of the Year competition in 2023. You can see more of his garden and read about the process of transforming it in the August issue of BBC Gardeners' World Magazine, on sale now. Stills photography: Neil Hepworth

This may contain: several colorful wooden discs hanging from chains in a garden with flowers and people sitting on lawn chairs

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Garden border ideas and inspiration

Clever ideas we want to copy from the Beautiful Borders at BBC Gardeners' World Live 👀 What will you be trying?

This may contain: pink roses and purple flowers in a garden

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Outdoor Living

Quick Saves

Design

BBC Gardeners' World Live

A few of our favourite details from the gardens at BBC Gardeners' World Live 💚 Did you visit the show? Which was your favourite?

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BBC Gardeners' World Live

Details we loved in the gardens at BBC Gardeners' World Live 👀 Did you visit the show? Which was your favourite?

Plants for the back of a border

Eupatoriums are towering perennials with fluffy flowerheads that are especially popular with butterflies. Most flower in late summer and autumn. Species to grow include Eupatorium maculatum and Eupatorium ligustrinum, both of which reach over 2m tall.

pink flowers with red centers and green leaves in the foreground, surrounded by greenery

Plants For Bees

Plants For Shade

Shade Plants

Plants for the middle of a border

Echinaceas will vary in height depending on the cultivar you grow, but most will fall between 50cm and 100cm tall. They're fantastic plants for bees, come in a range of colours and combine beautifully with other clump-forming perennials like phlomis and veronicastrums.

some white and yellow flowers are growing in the dirt next to red plants with green leaves

Planting Schemes

Flower Blooming

Gardening Inspiration

Garden Inspiration

Apothecary

Planting

Plants for the front of a border

Erigeron works especially well as part of informal planting schemes, where they can be allowed to spread and sprawl. In doing so, you'll be rewarded with masses of flowers that last for months on end.

some purple flowers are growing in the grass

Cottage Garden Border

Small Cottage Garden

Modern Planting

Lavender Hidcote

Cottage Garden Borders

Geranium Macrorrhizum

Summer Bulbs

Open Flower

Five plants for a cottage garden border

Being a neat evergreen shrub, lavender 'Hidcote' is a year-round structural plant. Its flower spikes are a deep violet blue, which appear in early July and fade by late August, and carry the unmistakeable scent of summer. Most lavenders look great planted informally in borders, grown as hedges or used as a less formal punctuation throughout a scheme.