15 top garden ideas and designs from BBC Gardeners World Live 2024

If you've already encountered a few or a group of spotted lanternflies in your yard, you may need to take extra steps to protect your yard since this invasive pest can damage the ecosystem around them.

SOME OF THE many unusual fruits that Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano grow in their arboretum in the Hudson Valley of New York, like goji berries or maybe Schisandra (above), are ones you’re more likely to see on ingredient labels of health food store products than for sale in nurseries or growing in gardens. But grow them you can.

Edimentals is a new term for growing flowers and vegetables together. Gardens today are often too small to have a separate ‘veg patch.’

For the first time in decades I heard a cuckoo just the other day, its pealing “Wuck-Koo” ringing out so loudly nearby that I felt a quick, sharp jolt of joy at being so closely in its presence. Once a common sound, the distinctive call of this fleeting seasonal migrant from tropical Africa is traditionally believed to signal the arrival of spring. But as is true of so many other once-common species of birds, its numbers, which are down by an estimated 27 per cent since the early 1970s, have been in slow but steady decline for decades.

Zen gardens provide places for contemplation and relaxation in the whirl of busy modern life. They emerged as spaces for meditation around the fourteenth century in Japan. In Zen Buddhist temples of the time, a new style of garden was developed based on ancient traditions and intended to represent the Japanese landscape. These representations weren’t meant to be realistic – instead they included abstract forms, such as rocks and waves raked in gravel, to symbolise natural features. The purpose of a Zen garden was to inspire profound thoughts and meditation.

In January I visited the world’s largest horticultural show in Essen, Germany, and came away with some great take-aways, but I was especially impressed with the significant trend of pruning, training and grafting certain plants into new and unusual forms.

Raised garden beds are an excellent choice for gardeners looking to enhance their growing space. The best raised garden beds offer benefits, such as improved soil conditions, better pest control, and easier maintenance. Our expertise at Savvy Gardening stems from years of hands-on gardening in raised beds and thorough research, ensuring that our recommendations are practical and reliable. We’ve narrowed our favorites to a list of six. We meticulously evaluated various factors, including durability, material quality,

Blueland

A rose garden used to mean a garden planted only with roses.

When it comes to creating a modern homestead, you probably don’t automatically think of a park-like setting filled with color and texture that you’d like to hide out in for hours.

Wondering what you should be planting, harvesting, and keeping an eye on this growing season? Here’s your summer garden checklist to help you keep on top of garden maintenance.

When one thinks about a production garden designed to yield copious amounts of vegetables and flowers, it’s not often one with perfectly manicured rows overflowing with color and paired with thoughtfully organized spaces for gathering. Practicality and function are usually the focus, not a dedication to stunning surroundings. This is where the team behind Oakland-based Pine House Edible Gardens stands out with their impeccable layout and design philosophies, showcasing the ability to implement important functional garden systems with incredible style.