Best in show
Bridgemere Show Gardens has packed a lot into its six acres and four-decade history. It boasts 15 different gardens, from a Victorian topiary garden to a quintessential English cottage garden. Its 'Tatton Garden' is so named for winning Best in Show in the RHS show's inaugural year. In 2021 the Down Memory Lane Garden a collaborative project aiming to give solace to dementia sufferers and their carers - won silver at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show.
ENTRY OFFER Garden: 2 for 1 £4. Under-18s free. Open all year. bridgemereshowgardens.co.uk Offer not valid on charity or event days.
An Englishman's home
In 1911, self-made millionaire Julius Drewe commissioned architect Edwin Lutyens to build him a castle. Lutyens hated 'squalid houses and mean gardens'. This explains Castle Drogo, an unabashed display of architectural and gardening grandeur overlooking Dartmoor's spectacular Teign Gorge.
Drogo's formal terraces and manicured lawns have an elegant 1920s formality. This gives way to meandering paths of rhododendron woods, where dappled shade allows visitors to immerse themselves in nature. The trail down to the gorge leads through enchanting ancient woodland, over fairytale stone bridges and along the fast-flowing upper reaches of the Teign.
ENTRY OFFER Castle & garden: 2 for 1 £14. Open all year. nationaltrust.org.uk/ castle-drogo Offer not valid on bank hols
This story is from the May 2023 edition of BBC Gardeners World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2023 edition of BBC Gardeners World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
We love June
We're cruising towards midsummer: this is a month full of love and abundance. Wherever you look there will be something in your garden that lifts the spirits and makes you glad to be alive. We have colour to cheer us, we have leaves that still have the bounce and freshness of small puppies, we have the first berries fattening up, there are birds frantically parenting very demanding broods of chicks, the bees are all over the place, it's prime barbecue and picnic season, and we have lawns as lush and green as billiard tables. What a month to fall in love.
Your wildlife month
The female will usually lay one clutch of up to eight eggs
An edible garden in pots
Join Lucy Bellamy in creating an edible container garden for all seasons, as she harvests what's ripe now and starts later-season crops
Garden craft with kids
Fill the summer holidays with fun nature makes for kids, including botanical printed t-shirts, seed sowing in upcycled food containers and a hanging home for beneficial insects. Jaime Johnson and family show you how
Secrets of a COLOURFUL GARDEN
Using a colour theme is an easy way to give any garden a strong, unified character - Nick Bailey shows you how
Indoor plants, outdoor treats
Break the rules and give your house plants a summer holiday, with Michael Perry's mixed pot display ideas
YOUR PRUNING MONTH
The first few weeks of summer are a good time to get spring-flowering plants in shape. Follow Frances' guide for best results
Gardening for wellbeing
As the pressures of modern living bear down, our outside spaces can provide soothing respite for our minds and bodies, says Arit Anderson
Your greenhouse guide to A fruitful summer
Get the best from your greenhouse fruit and vegetable crops this summer, with these tried and trusted growing tips from Adam Frost
Stars of the show
Agapanthus is the perfect midsummer plant, flowering with spectacular blooms from June onwards and, as Monty explains, it loves to grow in a pot
