You'll want to implement these 5 garden trends from Gardeners' World Live 2025 in your own garden right away
Gardeners' World Live is one of the UK's biggest gardening events, where you can find inspiration from both the show gardens and the various stalls full of plants, garden ornaments and tools. Editor Iona went out and shares 5 garden trends that caught her eye at the event.
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This shelter for garden animals blends in with the garden through the planting. Photo: Iona van den Dries.
One of the first things I noticed at this event was how many gardens were focused on increasing biodiversity. Atmospheric insect hotels and shelters were seamlessly interwoven with varied planting and other garden elements. There was even a working beehive! In the first photo you can see a beautiful insect shelter that blends in with the planting in the garden. In the show garden in the second photo, there was attention for animals on every level of the garden, from hanging insect hotels to containers full of beautiful flowers and flowering herbs, and wooden discs in the ground for specific beetle species. The soil animals are not forgotten here!
A garden completely furnished for all kinds of garden animals, from flying insects to beetles. Photo: Iona van den Dries.
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Edible nasturtiums adorn this door among the vegetable garden plants.
Also striking at this event were the potagers : the ornamental vegetable gardens. Flowers, vegetables, herbs, fruit: these elements find each other in various show gardens and enhance each other's beauty. A strawberry looks like a jewel among the various flowers or the leaf of a cabbage stands out even better. These show gardens also showed that a vegetable garden section does not have to take up much space, but that you can also plant containers in a way that is a delight to the palate and a feast for the eyes.
The strawberries look like jewels among the flowers! Photo: Iona van den Dries.
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These rose gold insect watering holes in the middle look like flowers themselves! Photo: Iona van den Dries.
One of the most amazing features of these show gardens was how they used water in the garden in different ways. A water feature does not necessarily have to take up a large space in your garden, while it can be an interesting garden element and a nice addition for your garden animals. For example, you found insect drinking places (the photo above) and decorative bowls with water. Of course, there were also larger water features, such as ponds (the photo below) and even small waterfalls and water streams.
This beautiful pond is the star of his garden. Photo: Iona van den Dries.
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There is no soil to be seen around this garden path, just a dense, rich abundance of plants. Photo: Iona van den Dries.
Many of the gardeners also made the most of their show garden by completely covering the ground with plants (as above), ornaments and other ground covers, such as gravel, shells or bark. Bare ground is much less visible, perhaps partly because it dries out much faster and many of the gardens were also designed to withstand drought.
The ground around this pond is filled with a wealth of plants! Photo: Iona van den Dries.
Use trees, pergolas and other tall elements to add more diversity to your garden.Photo: Iona van den Dries.
The nice thing about the show gardens is that there are many smaller gardens among them, with which designers show how diverse you can garden on a smaller piece of land. Height played a major role in this. Think of vertical gardening with support structures, pergolas, arches and statues, but also of planting in layers and combining different climbing plants on a support structure.
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Gardeners' World Live is a festive British event for every passionate gardener. Held annually in Birmingham, UK, it offers four days of fun and activities, including inspiring model gardens, a wide range of shopping opportunities and, the icing on the cake, your favourite gardening experts live on stage. In 2025, gardening experts including Monty Don, Frances Tophill, Adam Frost, Sue Kent, Nick Bailey and Rachel de Thame will talk about their gardening experiences and answer questions from the audience.
