Category Archives: Gardens

Talk to your plants? Now the first AI-powered garden will allow them to talk back

Posted on by

Collaboration between leading garden designer and Microsoft to go on display at Chelsea flower show 2025

Hardcore gardeners sometimes, when no one else is listening, talk quietly to their prize blooms. But at next year’s Chelsea flower show, visitors will be encouraged to have a chat with its first ever AI-powered garden.

The garden designer Tom Massey has partnered with Microsoft to create the Avanade “intelligent” garden. Sensors in the soil are partnered with an AI trained on Royal Horticultural Society plant data and gardening advice, meaning visitors can ask the garden: “How are you?”

Continue reading...

Monty Don’s first Chelsea garden will be dog-friendly

Posted on by

Gardeners’ World presenter is bucking the trend to make the event more inclusive

Some gardeners at the Chelsea Flower Show may balk at the idea of a dog scrabbling around near their prize roses.

But Monty Don is designing his first Chelsea garden for next year’s event – and making it dog-friendly.

Continue reading...

Amsterdammers left bemused at plan to tackle flowerpot ‘jungle’

Posted on by

Authorities in Dutch capital launch ‘Operation plant pot’, saying excessive pot placement threatens accessibility

Residents have reacted with bemusement at plans by authorities in Amsterdam to crack down on what it sees as a plague of messy plant pots.

In an approach named “Operation plant pot” by the local media, the Dutch capital’s central district is limiting residents to two pots with footprints no larger than 50cm by 50cm, made of “sustainable” material and placed against their front wall. Rogue gardens of pots in parking spots and under trees will be confiscated, according to the policy memo.

Continue reading...

Wimbledon gardeners reuse coffee grounds in sustainability bid

Posted on by

More plans afoot for compostable food use, says head gardener, as tournament commits to wildlife ‘net gain’ by 2030

Rain or shine – usually more of the former – Wimbledon’s stunning floral displays always manage to dazzle.

For those hoping to give their gardens an SW19-inspired transformation, the tournament’s secret has finally been revealed: coffee grounds from the staff room.

Continue reading...

Britain embraces pond life as aquatic garden plant sales boom

Posted on by

RHS reports 35% surge in orders, while garden designers note pond trend at Hampton Court Palace flower show

A pond boom is happening in Britain’s gardens as people try to halt wildlife loss by digging water sources for amphibians and other aquatic life.

Data from the Royal Horticultural Society shows a marked increase in sales of pond greenery; their online store had a 35% increase in sales of pond plants for 2023 compared with 2022.

Continue reading...

Letting grass grow long boosts butterfly numbers, UK study proves

Posted on by

Analysis of 60o gardens shows wilder lawns feed caterpillars and create breeding habitat

Good news for lazy gardeners: one labour-saving tweak could almost double the number of butterflies in your garden, according to a new scientific study – let the grass grow long.

In recent years nature lovers have been extolling the benefits of relaxed lawn maintenance with the growing popularity of the #NoMowMay campaign. Now an analysis of six years of butterfly sightings across 600 British gardens has provided the first scientific evidence that wilder lawns boost butterfly numbers.

Continue reading...

House sparrow tops Big Garden Birdwatch charts for 21st year in a row

Posted on by

Blue tits, starlings, wood pigeons and blackbirds next most sighted in RSPB survey involving 600,000 participants

A friendly if slightly tuneless chirp is the most ubiquitous birdsong in British gardens with the house sparrow topping the Big Garden Birdwatch charts for the 21st consecutive year, according to the annual RSPB survey.

Blue tits, starlings, wood pigeons and blackbirds were the next most-sighted birds by more than 600,000 participants in the world’s largest wildlife garden survey.

Continue reading...

Spot the punk rockers: hope for waxwing boost in annual UK bird count

Posted on by

People encouraged to record sightings of mohican-sporting birds in RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend

The scale of this waxwing winter will be revealed this weekend when people are encouraged to spend an hour recording the birds they see in their gardens, balconies, parks and school grounds.

The spectacular migratory, mohican-sporting birds have been spotted across Britain during the colder weather and will be recorded alongside more familiar sparrows, blackbirds and robins in the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch.

Continue reading...

Giving city dwellers access to nature is key aim, says National Trust

Posted on by

Charity to bring its gardens to urban areas to allow nature-deprived communities access to green spaces

Bringing glorious gardens and green space to nature-deprived people in cities is one of the National Trust’s most important roles, its head has said.

Maintaining some of the most famous country houses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has long been thought of as the trust’s central purpose, but the charity is aiming to bring its gardens to urban areas to increase access to nature, with an urban garden planned for Chelsea flower show that will model a pocket park that can be copied and rolled out across towns and cities.

Continue reading...

‘The dog’s very happy’: water-conscious Gotlanders compete for ugliest lawn title

Posted on by

Competition aimed at encouraging Swedish island residents to save water is being copied elsewhere

Dry, brown grass is no longer a source of shame on one Swedish island where residents have been competing over the “ugliest lawn” in an attempt to save water – and it seems the trend is spreading.

“It was the easiest competition to win, I didn’t have to do anything,” said this year’s winner Stina Östman, a resident of Sweden’s largest island of Gotland, who has mixed feelings about her victory. “It’s always nice to win, even if you are the worst,” she said.

Continue reading...

‘They’re huge this year’: UK fruit pickers hail bumper blackberry crop

Posted on by

‘Just about perfect’ weather conditions mean berries are abundant – ideal for bank holiday weekend foraging

The sun shone at the right time but not too harshly, and the rain provided just about the perfect amount of watering. As a result, gardeners, foragers and fans of fruity puddings in many parts of the UK are relishing one of the most abundant, juiciest blackberry crops for years.

“It’s a really good year,” said John Myers, the head gardener at the National Trust’s Ham House in London. “Conditions have been just about perfect. We had a nice May and June when the temperatures were good. June was warm but not too hot, allowing the flowers to take up enough nutrients and the pollinators to do their thing. Then after June we had quite a lot of rain, which did the berries a world of good, plumping them up. In the last few weeks it’s been warm, meaning they’ve ripened really well.”

Continue reading...

Chelsea flower show garden built with asylum seekers brings ‘message of hope’

Posted on by

Choose Love garden uses materials found in refugee camps and plants that grow on migration routes

A centrepiece garden at this year’s Chelsea flower show has been built with the help of a team of asylum seekers with a design that recreates Europe’s migration routes and uses materials found in refugee camps.

The Choose Love garden, named after a charity working with displaced people, uses the sustainable “superadobe” building technique found in camp architecture.

Continue reading...

Chelsea flower show embraces trend for grow-your-own veg

Posted on by

Supermarket shortages mean community food projects will have a prominent place in this year’s show

Supermarkets have rationed fresh fruit and vegetables in recent months as a combination of Brexit, bad weather and labour shortages has hit supply and driven prices up.

Those shortages have led to a surge in people growing their own, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, and that trend will be reflected at the Chelsea flower show from 22 May.

Continue reading...

Gardeners urged to ‘keep it local’ when creating a wildflower meadow

Posted on by

Experts say neighbourhood varieties will suit an area’s pollinators, and that caution is needed when buying generic seed mixes

Gardeners hoping to establish a wildflower patch in their gardens should be wary of generic seed mixes and stick to local blooms to best serve wild pollinators, experts have said.

Conservationists are urging people to source not just native wildflowers but to find out what grows naturally in their neighbourhood by getting out in their area and looking for inspiration in existing meadows, verges and nature reserves. They should then use this as a guide to ensure they are collecting or buying the most suitable wildflowers for their gardens.

Continue reading...

April’s cold weather shows its time to fill our gardens with hardier plants, say experts

Posted on by

Top gardeners advise use of tougher varieties that can cope with extremes of heat and cold as conditions disappoint growers

Gardeners are being urged to grow plants that can cope with extreme heat and cold after the Royal Horticultural Society was bombarded with letters from members asking why species they had cultivated successfully for years were now dying.

“It seems to be because of the temperature fluctuations,” said Nikki Barker, a senior horticultural adviser at the RHS. “We’ve gone from severe drought with an initially very mild autumn that turned cold. It’s the combination of weather patterns rather than one single event. And plants find it hard to deal with that fluctuation.”

Continue reading...

‘No Mow May’: UK gardeners urged to let wildflowers and grass grow

Posted on by

Public asked to put away lawnmowers next month to deliver big gains for nature and the climate

A top 10 of the most common plants in British lawns has been revealed as conservationists urge gardeners to let their grass grow for the month of May.

Scientists at the charity Plantlife are asking the public to look out for wildflowers and other plants in their lawns as they put their lawnmowers away for a campaign labelled “No Mow May”.

Continue reading...

Have you seen this bug? Scientists call on Britain’s gardeners to track elusive aphid

Posted on by

The elusive giant willow aphid goes into hiding in spring. Now the Royal Horticultural Society wants volunteers to help find out why

Gardeners have been urged by scientists to help find a mysterious bug which disappears in spring and reappears at the end of summer.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is asking people to send in sightings of the giant willow aphid (Tuberolachnus salignus) so that they can find out where it goes and how it interacts with garden plants.

Continue reading...

Smells like dead rats: crowds flock to catch a whiff of blooming corpse flower in Adelaide

Posted on by

Titan arum emits a foul smell to lure pollinators, but at the botanic gardens it attracts thousands of visitors to witness the rare flowering

A corpse flower, which emits a stench that can travel for kilometres to lure flesh flies, sweat bees and carrion beetles, has just bloomed in the Adelaide Botanic gardens.

It only blooms once every few years, and only for about 48 hours, to attract insects that have already wallowed in the pollen of another corpse flower.

Continue reading...

Britain’s grasslands and dormice under threat from mild autumn

Posted on by

October’s summery temperatures are ‘confusing’ plants and throwing off fragile ecosystems

Britain’s rare chalk grasslands and dormice are under threat from the mild weather this autumn, and some plants are “confused” and have flowered multiple times, experts have said.

This October, the UK has experienced temperatures more normal for spring or summer, with highs of 19.5C recorded this week, and more warm weather forecast for coming days.

Continue reading...

England’s gardeners to be banned from using peat-based compost

Posted on by

Sale of peat-based compost for use on private gardens and allotments to be outlawed within 18 months

Sales of peat for use on private gardens and allotments will be banned in England from 2024, the government has announced.

Environmental campaigners have long called for stricter laws to restore peatlands.

Continue reading...