Bold colours, soft pastels, the colour combinations at BBC Gardeners’ World Live 2026 cater for every taste. Here’s what caught my eye at this year’s show.
Probably the most dramatic planting at this year’s show is ‘Think All Things Pink’, a Showcase Garden by Samantha Stringer, which celebrates the power of pink flowers.
While the overall effect was a bit too bold for my taste, there were some lovely smaller combinations and it was certainly a good design to hunt out a touch of pink for your own garden.
Also dramatic though in a less flamboyant way was ‘Greenhouse Noir’ designed by Little Jardin by Matt Bettison.
The dark wood surround and foliage-dominated planting gave it a very modern feel. It would be perfect for a city courtyard or small garden. It was awarded Best Showcase Garden and Platinum, along with Best Construction Landscaper for Shane Allsop Landscaping, Mike Jarvis Landscaping and Landscaping Creation.
Black hard landscaping was also a main element of Jonathan and Briony Dakic’s tropical-style garden where it was teamed with red for a very dramatic display.
I liked the whimsy of Julie Haylock’s Winnie the Pooh inspired garden, which was filled with soft planting in pastel shades.
Other lovely combinations were spotted on Sarah Elsley and Jeremy Price’s designs, and I really liked the warm tones of the Beautiful Border by Annabel Davies.
There’s definitely an emphasis on small scale gardening at this year’s show with few large show gardens and a lot of Beautiful Borders, all offering inspiration for those with more modest sized gardens. Ideas include using all sorts of reclaimed containers as mini ponds, and borders that pack in plants. Leading the way is the Make a Metre Matter design by De-Graft Mensah and Lucy Chamberlain, which shows how much you can grow in just 9m and covers herbs, salad and plants to attract pollinators.
These cardboard containers are great as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic and, with their handles, easily moved around the garden.
Among the larger gardens, this design by Gunns & Roses and 3DG was certainly attracting the attention of many at the press preview. Beautifully framed by a Corten steel moon gate, it showed a former industrial space that was being reclaimed as a garden space and softened by native planting.
It was part of 10th anniversary display on the APL Avenue, which featured a curated collection of designs by members of the Association of Professional Landscapers.
The foxgloves against the remains of an old brick wall was a lovely contrast.
Nostalgia was the inspiration for many designs and trains made another appearance – I saw a model railway layout at RHS Chelsea last month. This time it was in a Beautiful Border by Ish Kamran that celebrated the imagination of childhood. Elsewhere, there was a showcase garden by train driver Andrew Christie that also featured trains running through planting.
It was good to see the finished result of the collaboration between Prof David Stevens and Alice Roberts. You can read my interview with David about the design here. It won Best Show Garden and a Platinum award.
As ever, the nursery displays in the Floral Marquee were full of colour with many of the country’s top growers staging exhibits. For me, Proctor’s Nursery was a highlight with a stand that brimmed with colour and lots of beautiful plants.
The International Orchid Show brings together everything you might ever want to know about the largest plant family on the planet.
It also had a rather sobering reminder of the perils faced by orchid hunters in the past. Many died from drowning, disease and even capture by cannibals.
Perhaps it was because it had been a long week, but I found myself drawn to the many seats in the gardens.
Rebecca Williams had framed her bench with a scented jasmine arch and borders of blue and yellow.
The curved bench seat that wrapped around Kate Patrick’s showcase garden was immersed in planting and had a beautiful copper water feature at its heart.
Perhaps though the most appealing was the hammock on WRAGS trainee Kate McCallum’s Beautiful Border. This design won the Best WFGA Border and a Platinum award.
As the sun finally made an appearance, it was even more tempting.
BBC Gardeners’ World Live 2026 runs until June21 at the NEC, Birmingham. Details on the website.
Top image: The Folklorians Garden by Kate Patrick
Enjoyed this? You can read more of my show reports here.
Make sure you don’t miss future posts by adding your name to my mailing list.