We can’t make our gardens look like show gardens, but we can pick up brilliant tips and ideas from them. My pick of the ideas from the show gardens at BBC Gardeners World Live this year.
00:00 Why our gardens are never like show gardens!
00:20 BBC Gardeners World Live shows: https://www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com/
00:29 Ways of using vertical space
01:14 Don’t forget space under things
01:57 Video on how to make a container pond: https://youtu.be/F93kYgcbBOw
02:20 Corten steel – the contemporary materials for pots, raised beds and sculpture
03:00 Recycle – make a rockery out of bricks or rubble
03:34 Video on how to create a rock garden: https://youtu.be/whDfzvMn9Zw
03:38 Edimentals – making grow your own look decorative
04:32 Consider foliage colour when planning planting
05:20 Foliage-only garden by Kiran Vaidya of Hefty’s Garden https://heftysgarden.wixsite.com/heftysgarden
05:47 Use pots in borders to make plants stand out
06:40 Video on slug resistant plants and how to deal with slugs & snails: https://youtu.be/_qeEWPY50Vc
07:08 Some plants look best as solo specimens
07:38 James Fenneberg border: https://www.jamesfenneberg.com/
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31 Comments
Very useful tips!
Hi. Great video. Loved all the ideas 😊
Am so out of the loop I completely forgot about this show. Nice to see what I missed.
Another spectacular post! Thanks so much!!❤
Looking well, happy Alex, great to see! Thanks for the video!
The bug hotel under the bench was attractive but I would not sit there thinking a bug might come and bite me. LOL
Bug motels are cool and they look great.
Another terrific video!
Great ideas – as usual! Thanks so much. 😊
I love these ideas. Would never have imagined how beautiful the pale pink columns would be. I’ve embraced the pots in borders. I find it also helps to size control trees as well. Thank you for showing lovely photos from the show:)
You are such an excellent teacher. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and interpretations 🙂
Alexandra, you never cease to amaze me with your creative content! So excellent, Thank you!! 🌱
Thankyou for another great video 🙂
Loved the ideas and beautiful plants😊
These ideas are great, and thank you for providing photos. The very small back garden at my old home was surrounded by a 6 ft. weathered grey fence. I found some ornamental pots that had flat backs with holes so they could be hung from a fence or wall. They looked great planted with small ivy and trailing lobelia. I also put up shelves for pots, and even installed a wall fountain on the back of my garage. Shelf brackets worked to support a narrow section of trellis at the top of the garage (flat top with a parapet wall) for the wisteria I grew in a barrel planter on the deck. Small spaces often bring out the creativity, no? 🙂
I’ve had to many creepy crawly things get on me while relaxing so I’ll keep their habit on the outer edges of my garden.
Thank you Alexandra. Pots in the borders has worked well for me. In my long narrow garden I still have a lot of exposed fence. I have introduced some new climbers this year but what do you think about the idea of painting the fence a really dark colour to help it recede?
I think I enjoyed this years Gardeners World show better than Chelsea this year.
I love using bold paint colours. Sadolin superdec paint has lasted 10 years on my Lutyens bench in fuschia pink- it brightens up the garden in the winter too. We also used it on a fence to make conifers ‘pop’.
👍❤️😊
🪴🌿🌺ENJOYED 🌺🌿🪴
So many wonderful ideas in the images and commentary. I’m inspired!!
Love the idea of the pond under the grating, although just outside the back door seems a little extreme, I guess that is for show purposes. It would be interesting to look down and see fish gliding around, it should have also a nice cooling effect and store water for watering.
Thank you so much. I started my pots gardening this year. I wish I had started it before. Am thinking of adding more in the future God's willing
Great ideas except I don't understand putting bee hotels under a bench you would actually sit on – I wouldn't want to be that close to bees going in and out. I know they say solitary bees are not aggressive, but I wouldn't want to encounter the one who was just having a bad day.
Thank you.
Not much in this weeks look at ideas sorry .Formal art and craft Edwardian garden rooms I have needs a look at ideas for this level of gardening. Your take on borders I really loved
Honestly. Now, even gardens have become a weapon for political correctness.
Good morning Alexander, a lovely informative programme on video! So loved the garden ideas with walls and practical structures, they so complimented the plants. Take a good look at the piece of brick that has been thrown to the side, I find it amazing the bugs that live underneath, even on the rough bark of certain trees. It is a lovely idea to have the bricks and stones set up roughly so that the bugs can climb in and out and the sun seekers have a nice flat surface to bathe on. The skinks would love this. Our neighbours cat visits us regularly alas, I see her watching the skinks with the intention of grabbing them for a snack, now they have become very 'shy' and we just see them hurrying across the walls. You are looking so nice and you blend in beautifully with the lovely summer annual colours. Do take care, kind regards, Elize.
Thank you from Australia, what's going on at your Garden Shows.
Lovely video, but could I just remind everyone that painting or staining your side of a neighbour's fence without their permission is actually a crime (in the UK, at least). It's classed as criminal damage. Paint and stain will drip down their side of the fence, making it look really unsightly, and will damage tall plants and nearby structures if a spray gun is used to apply it. Also, it will almost certainly negate any guarantee you have with the fencing manufacturer.
So many people think they can do whatever they like, because they see it done in gardening shows on the telly, and that simply isn't the case. These shows really need to start pointing this out to viewers, something that none of those I watch have ever done, which is incredibly irresponsible. The same applies to fire pits – none of these shows ever say out that they can't be used in smoke-free zones, of which there are many, especially in residential areas. And the manufacturers of these products should be made to make this clear on their labelling. Everyone would know where they stand, then, and relationships with neighbours would be far more harmonious!
I love the idea of bug hotels in gardens but my only concern with them being located directly below a bench seat is literally 'ants in the pants', and what about solitary bees flying back & forth around calves and ankles!? I think these wonderfully beneficial creatures would prefer a more peaceful 'hotel' a little further away from human activity.