Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2025 i BBC Gardeners' World

“September! I never tire of turning it over in my mind. It has warmth, depth, and colour. It glows like old amber”Patience Strong STAR OF THE MONTH Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’ Summer never fades away quietly: there are always bright fanfares of colour to send us on our way into autumn. The pastelly pinks, clean whites and baby blues of midsummer have morphed into splashes of late oranges, reds and a beefy shade of yellow. This plant has been giving it some welly for the past few weeks. The flowers have skirts like a whirling cheerleader topped with those distinctive and totally-irresistible-to-bees button tops. Here, it works particularly well flowering against a contrasting ochre-yellow wall: a bit of late-season Mediterranean-style glam. The last hurrah of summertime. Often needs some support –…

It’s never too early to think about Christmas, so why not book to join the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine team for a day of festive luxury on Tuesday 25 November at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, a Belmond Hotel. Discover how to create a beautiful table centrepiece and enjoy a cookery demonstration, followed by a champagne reception and a two-Michelin starred lunch. During this special day you’ll learn to make a Christmas table display that will delight your guests. Le Manoir’s talented chefs will also lead a cookery demonstration revealing the secrets to crafting a delicious festive dish. You’ll then join a champagne reception, followed by a four-course tasting menu with wines that will reflect the festive spirit in every bite. Places are limited, so book now to enjoy this festive…

Generational blooms Tended by three generations of the Bloom family, Bressingham Gardens in Norfolk offer colour across the seasons. Now cared for by Adrian Bloom, the gardens are a masterclass in all-season planting. In 1967 Adrian added Foggy Bottom Garden, which is now home to hundreds of mature conifers and heathers, offset by the more delicate, swaying forms of ornamental grasses. The gardens are home to the National Collection of miscanthus grasses, which are woven among summer-flowering perennials, infusing the displays with rich colour. OFFER Museum & garden: 2 for 1 £12.65. bressingham.co.uk Prairies and pollinators In 2000, garden designer Piet Oudolf created the Millennium Garden within the nature reserve at Pensthorpe, Norfolk. Planted in his signature prairie style, the garden combines grasses and perennials in a billowing tapestry of…

Just one day after we installed the one-square-metre ponds in the Plant-Based Garden at BBC Gardeners’ World Live, the first dragonfly showed up! This proved immediately that a single square metre really can matter – the very thing this show garden set out to highlight. I was determined to make every metre of this garden, which covered just under 200 square metres, truly sustainable, useful and wildlife friendly. And after a manic 16-day build, I think we achieved that goal. The construction process went well, and we managed to stay true to the plant-based focus of the garden too, ensuring that all aspects of the plot – from the raised beds to the buildings, walls, floors, roofs, ponds and compost heaps – were constructed from plants, without a drop of…

Kate Bradbury’s top tasks to do this month to make your garden more wildlife-friendly Make an amphibian hibernaculum Frogs, toads and newts all benefit from a dark, damp area where they can hibernate. In a quiet corner, dig a shallow hole around 50cm deep and 1.5m across. Add logs, branches, bricks and rocks, ensuring to create a pile with plenty of nooks and crannies that amphibians can crawl into. Add drainpipes, leading from the pile to ground level, which amphibians will use for access (roughen the insides with sandpaper so they’re not too slippery to climb up). Cover the pile with soil, so only the ends of the drainpipes are visible. Lay turf or plant wildflowers on top. 30 MINUTES TO SPARE Nearly all seed-producing flowers, such as lavender, teasels, rudbeckia…

Remove shading from panes Take shading off the greenhouse now that the temperature and light levels are dropping. If you have used whitening, it will come off easily by rubbing with a wet cloth. If you use woven shading, unpeg it from the inside and give it a wash before storing for the winter. It’s important that you remove shading for the autumn if you have soft, young plants in the greenhouse that are vulnerable to fungal rot, because low light levels and cool temperatures will encourage it to set in. DON’T FORGET □ Use vents to improve air circulation and reduce the risk of fungal disease □ Sow salads such as pea shoots and rocket in trays for autumn and winter leaves □ Dry off maincrop onions on greenhouse…

“I’ve often wondered how a more nuanced, naturalistic approach to prairie planting might transfer to a garden setting” Like many gardeners, I have a great affection for what are considered ‘prairie plants’ – bold, long-lasting and often late-flowering species originating in the vast grasslands of the North American interior. These include many UK garden staples, from rudbeckias and asters to echinaceas and eryngiums. Prairie plantings saw a rise in popularity during the 1990s, with influential Dutch garden designers such as Henk Gerritsen and Piet Oudolf ushering in the ‘New Perennial Movement’, employing American perennials and grasses in great brushstroke drifts, contrasting with one another in colour, texture and form. This painterly design approach championed winter seedheads as much as summer impact and, as seen in gardens including RHS Wisley, Trentham…

FREE travel wallet Helsinki, Tallinn and Riga From £1,269pp – 7 nights, 8 days. Departs 24 April 2026* From Helsinki to Riga, this tour takes in four cities across a trio of countries on the cusp of where Europe and Russia collide. Accompanied by an expert guide, explore the very best on offer from Europe’s hidden gem of Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Timetable ◼ DAY 1 Arrival in Helsinki ◼ DAY 2 Helsinki ◼ DAY 3 Suomenlinna Fortress ◼ DAY 4 Kadriorg Palace and Gardens ◼ DAY 5 Tallinn ◼ DAY 6 Tartu ◼ DAY 7 Riga ◼ DAY 8 Return home Experiences ◼ Daily breakfast and three dinners ◼ Ferry crossing from Helsinki to Tallinn ◼ Five guided tours of Helsinki, Suomenlinna Fortress, Kadriorg Palace and Gardens, Tallinn and…

As we say farewell to the summer and reminisce about those long, warm evenings full of scent and colour, the autumn can feel as though the party is coming to an end. In fact, the garden is transitioning into one of the most stunning times of year with rich autumn colours, as well as a variety of fruits. Like any good relationship, committing to your garden throughout the year will not only make life easier, but it will also be much more rewarding. The weather and temperatures will fluctuate in the coming months, leading to some challenging times, but with a little-and-often approach while connecting with your garden on a regular basis, you’ll not only put your garden in a great position but also feel a sense of fulfilment as…

“Now is the time to preserve all this treasure – nothing must go to waste” September often glows with late summer sun, almost as though we’ve stolen it and packed it in our suitcases to bring it back from holiday. The days may be shortening, but a Sunday afternoon spent foraging for blackberries or wild plums brings a feeling of freedom in the outdoors, along with tasty rewards. Both in the garden at Hen Corner and on the allotment, our harvests are in full swing – from cutting big bunches of grapes at the beginning of the month to plucking huge fragrant quinces by the end. With pretty patty-pan squashes and yet more courgettes ripening week after week, now is the time to preserve all this treasure. So whether I’m…

Visit GardenersWorld.com/what-to-do-now for more advice on the best crops to sow and plant this month, and how to do it DELICIOUS FLAT LEAF PARSLEY A tasty biennial herb, perfect for flavouring soups, stews, salads and sauces. With a flavour stronger than its decorative, curly-leaved cousin, it’s easy to grow in borders or containers, and on a sunny kitchen windowsill. 1 plant in 1l pot £9.99 (KC9223) 3 plants in 1l pots £19.99 SAVE £9.98 (KC9224) Scan QR code to buy and for more great deals suttons.co.uk/SUSGW66 Call 0344 326 2200* quote code SUSGW66 Items despatched from September 2025 onwards. Offer closes 15 October 2025. Contract for supply of goods is with Suttons, Poplar Lane, Ipswich IP8 3BU. All offers subject to availability. We reserve the right to substitute varieties if necessary. We…

Offer ends 1 October 2025 2 EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE Visit buysubscriptions.com/GWNP25P Call 03330 162123* and quote code GWNP25P Free UK delivery Money back guarantee Worldwide delivery Secure online payments †This offer is only open to new UK customers subscribing to BBC Gardeners’ World magazine by recurring payment. The closing date for this offer is 1 October 2025. Pay £24.50 every 6 months, saving 42% on the usual shop price. You may cancel at any time and receive a full refund on any outstanding issues by contacting your bank or building society. Written confirmation may also be required. We reserve the right to reject or cancel subscriptions during the trial period for that magazine or any other magazine in the Immediate portfolio. Prices are discounted from the full UK subscription…

“At Longmeadow we try to control colour, yet are happy when this goes haywire and colour anarchy takes hold” We think very carefully about colour at Longmeadow. We plan it, try to control it, constantly monitor and adjust it – and yet are very happy when much of this goes haywire and colour anarchy takes hold. I am being serious about this! It’s a tricky business getting the right balance between the artistry of using colour in a border to create the effect you want and the sterility of rigid colour control. I like to take advantage of the strength of colour of later-flowering plants, such as zinnias, cosmos, coreopsis and heliotropes, which look better at this time of year than any other, because the sun is starting to sink…

Less than £1 each Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus) are traditional cottage-garden favourites, prized for their fragrance and loved by pollinators. This mix of varieties offers clusters of flowers with frayed edges in complementary shades of pink, white, purple and red, often with bicolour markings. Densely packed on upright stems, the flowers will fill your garden with sweet, spicy fragrance through the summer months. They are excellent as cut flowers too, lasting weeks in a vase. Pick the flowers regularly, or deadhead the faded blooms, to encourage further flowers. These hardy, evergreen perennials prefer a position in full sun, with moist but freed-raining soil, or in large containers. They team well with dahlias and cosmos for a long-lasting summer display. Height x Spread 60cm x 30cm Flowers May-Aug Supplied as bare…

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Ispent my childhood watching my family grow their own food and flowers. My happy memories and all the skills that were passed on to me when I was young allow me now to live a fulfilling and balanced life. So I was keen to pass on all the skills that I was lucky enough to have received and to share the joy of turning homegrown produce and ornamentals into beautiful, useful or meaningful things. We introduced our children from a very early age to the garden and all the exciting things that the outdoor space provides. There will, of course, be a time when they walk away, but the seeds of positivity have already been sown. And although they don’t spend as much time in the garden with me as…

One day, someone is going to design a conifer-only garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and blow us all away. Whoever does so would do well to visit Estonia for inspiration. Home to the spruce, yew, juniper and orange-tinted Scots – or Baltic – pine, the country’s overtly arboreal landscape sees all forms of evergreen thrive, from the scented and snow-capped to the crooked and curious. Unsurprisingly, this coniferous heritage shimmers through Estonian garden and landscape design, for year-round ‘structure’ and ‘texture’ are desirable qualities in a country with a notoriously protracted winter. A conifer fan, I took a trip to northern Estonia to get acquainted with its wild and cultivated evergreens, arriving first at the capital, Tallinn, 2023 winner of the coveted European Green Capital Award. With much…

SPRING AUTUMN SUMMER WINTER…

From only £278 for two* Dates available from 16 Aug 2025 to 31 Jan 2026* The Francis Hotel is one of Bath’s original Georgian buildings, in a central location that’s ideal for exploring this beautiful, historic city. The hotel has recently undergone a multi-million-pound, top-to-toe reimagination, and as a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine reader, we’re offering you the opportunity to be one of the first to experience the transformation. You could enjoy a fabulous getaway to this World Heritage city for a snippet of the usual price – a two-night stay from just £278 per couple. Relax in the super-sleek new bedrooms, created with bold patterns, plus modern and local touches such as Townsend Farm apple juice and a super-sized smart TV. The new restaurant, Emberwood, is one of Bath’s…

Seasonal secrets Here are six six-letter words associated with autumn. Unfortunately numbers have replaced the letters. With the help of the clues, can you crack the code? A late-season bloomer A common fungus A winged fruit Seed of the horse chestnut Tree famed for autumn colour A fungal disease A taste of autumn Can you fnd these 10 examples of nature’s bounty? APPLE BLACKBERRY CEP CHESTNUT HAZELNUT MAST PEAR ROSEHIP SLOE WALNUT Berried treasures Unscramble the anagrams to spell out four shrubs loaded with beautiful autumn berries. A HUGE TRIAL SET TO RACE ON AN ARTY CHAP A LILAC CARP Step by step By changing one letter each time to make a new word, can you transform PEAR into PLUM in fve steps or less? Colourful confusion These four trees…

Embrace the autumn ✔ Join Monty in raking up and making use of leaves in the garden ✔ Grow your own garlic, with tips on the most resilient varieties ✔ Plant bulbs in containers for vibrant successions of spring colour Nick begins his garden makeover by adding structure Excite the senses with Arit as she gardens for sound Frances shares her money-saving gardening tips Explore droughttolerant exotics and dark-leaved dahlias Take inspiration from Madrid Growing garden trees for tomorrow WORTH £12 20 FREE* Crocus Blackberry and Vanilla Sorbet when you buy a Viola Penny Collection Enjoy 20 free crocus bulbs when you buy a Viola Penny Collection, comprising one each of six varieties in cheery shades of purple, peach, yellow and white: ■ Viola Penny Peach Jump Up ■ V.…

LEADING THE WAY Content Director Kevin Smith Magazines Editor Kay Maguire Head of Content Adam Duxbury Head of Digital Catherine Mansley Head of Operations Gregor Shepherd CREATING QUALITY GARDENING CONTENT Horticultural Editor Emma Crawforth  Digital Editor Blake Roberts Senior Content Creator Sonya Patel Ellis Picture Editor Sarah Edwards Audio/visual Editor Claire Vennis  Strategic Projects Editor Oliver Parsons Social Media Lead Rachael Gibson Video Content Developer Jordan Kelly-Linden Editorial Assistant Sydney James GETTING THE DETAIL RIGHT Art Director Jo Cloke Art Editor Andrew Ellis Multimedia designer Emma Langschied Chief Sub Editor John Perkins Multimedia Sub Editor Shirley Accini PUBLISHING AND MARKETING Commercial Director Rachel Clare Brand Manager Emma Davis Commerce Manager Rita Baptiste Brand Marketing Executive Phoebe Elliott Commerce and Digital Marketing Executive Lois Elliott Brand Admin Assistant Sara Bhambra With thanks to Paula…

One of the few butterflies found in shade, the speckled wood is a butterfly of the woodland edge but also gardens, where it’s found basking in shafts of sunlight. You may spot rival males spiralling into the sky to fight each other. They feed on aphid honeydew but will come to flowers in late summer, when there are fewer aphids around. Mating takes place throughout summer, and the female lays eggs on long grasses such as false brome, cock’s foot and common couch. Did you know? The speckled wood can hibernate as a caterpillar or a chrysalis. This gives it an advantage over other species because any adverse weather or habitat disturbance may affect one stage of the lifecycle and not the other.…

WORTH £23.95 *Just pay £5.95 postage Alliums create an attractive contrast of shapes and textures when planted among herbaceous perennials, injecting vertical accents into borders and containers. They also make excellent cut fowers. Perfect for the low-maintenance garden, they’re easy to grow on freed-raining soil and will virtually take care of themselves. Plants supplied as bulbs Collection contains the following: ◼ Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’ (main image) x 3 Upright stems carry globes of starry flowers that measure up to 8cm across. Height x Spread 80cm x 30cm Flowers Jun ◼ Allium sphaerocephalon x 43 Long-lasting, oval-shaped, purple-green flowerheads.  H x S 90cm x 10cm F Jul-Aug ◼ Allium amplectens ‘Graceful Beauty’ x 3 White flowers with pretty pink stripes in early summer. H x S 30cm x 10cm F Jun ◼…

“Salvia flowers are hugely attractive to pollinating insects” Salvias, well, one salvia for sure, have been cultivated from time immemorial. Salvia officinalis, culinary sage, is a constituent of most herb gardens. It comes from the sunny slopes of the Mediterranean and is used widely in the cuisines of those countries, as well as in the British Isles. It also has ornamental value and numerous selections with purple, bicoloured or even tricoloured leaves, which broaden its decorative scope. There are other European and Eurasian species that have been adopted by gardeners over the last two centuries, chief of which is S. nemorosa, generally an edge-of-woodland plant in its natural habitat. Though its introduction into horticulture must have caused quite a stir, it was a mere ripple compared with the tidal wave…

Keep annuals blooming Make sure your borders look as colourful as possible by promptly deadheading this month to encourage more blooms. Annuals such as cosmos and pot marigolds can run out of steam this month if the flowers are allowed to go to seed, and you can miss out on lots of fresh flowers that will keep borders feeling summery for the rest of the month. Closely inspect each plant so you don’t miss any old flowerheads. If you would like to save seed, just leave a few flowers to age naturally for harvesting later. Look out for leaf cutter bee Embrace the creative patterns that leaf cutter bees make in the leaves of roses and other garden plants. Leaf cutter bees are solitary bees that use their jaws to…

As we begin autumn, now is the perfect time to think back on the year of gardening so far and start to plan ahead for 2026. One of the biggest rewards for forward thinking is colourful flowers in spring that come from planting bulbs over the next few weeks. Planting bulbs in autumn can feel a little like Christmas shopping in June – it seems rather early, but in six months’ time you’ll be glad you were so organised. The huge range of bulbs available makes it tempting to buy a little of this, a little of that, and spread them thinly throughout the garden. However, I’ve The first consideration is where to focus your bulb planting. Think about the areas that you see the most in spring, such as…

SAVE £15 Transform your garden with months of glorious colour year after year by planting this collection of 300 bulbs. This versatile range is perfect for borders, beds and containers, and many will naturalise through grass, providing bigger and better displays each year. Plant your spring bulbs now for best results and enjoy non-stop spring colour from February to August. The 300-variety collection includes: ■ Narcissus canaliculatus 15 bulbs Height x Spread 15cm x 10cm Flowers Mar-Apr ■ Tulip Triumph mixed 10 bulbs H x S 50cm x 15cm F Apr-May ■ Crocus mix 15 bulbs H x S 20cm x 5cm F Feb-Mar ■ Ipheon mix 90 bulbs H x S 20cm x 5cm F Mar-Apr ■ Allium moly 90 bulbs H x S 25cm x 10cm F Apr-Jun ■ Allium Drumsticks 50 bulbs H…

“Some crops need to be eaten fresh, others will ripen and reveal their full flavour after being stored” There’s something deeply satisfying about harvesting your own fruit and veg: a vindication, if you like, of all the work that went into sowing and growing them. I still love the words of the harvest hymn: “All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.” They take us back to when livelihoods depended on a bountiful harvest in the days before fridges and freezers. We do have greater facilities for storage today: I still remember filling a huge sweet jar with layers of sliced runner beans and salt back in the 1970s and being appalled at just how dreadful they tasted after cooking. No more salting for me! With modern household…

Wallflower Sugar Rush Mix is a selection of British-bred wallflowers that will reliably give two displays of vibrant colour to brighten the garden in autumn and spring. This dwarf variety is highly fragrant and its rainbow-like mix of coloured blooms will look perfect in borders and containers. Height x Spread 30cm x 30cm Flowers Mar-May, Oct-Nov ◼ 30 garden-ready plants £12.97 SAVE £17 (410164) YOU MAY ALSO LIKE… ◼ Wallflower Sunset Tutti Frutti Mix A vibrant mix of fiery blooms brings rich colour and sweet honey scent to the garden before most plants emerge. This strong, reliable hybrid thrives even in poor soil and tough spring weather. H x S 30cm x 30cm F Mar-May ◼ 30 garden-ready plants £12.97 SAVE £17 (410169) PLUS! Blooming Fast Pre-Delivery Plant Treatment – just £1! Get…

Garden piccalilli Makes 10 x 340g jars INGREDIENTS ■ 1kg fresh vegetables chopped into small pieces■ 1 tbsp sea salt■ 1 tbsp coriander seeds■ 1 tbsp cumin seeds■ 1 tbsp fennel seeds■ 1 tbsp mustard seeds■ 1 tbsp ground turmeric■ 1 tbsp cornflour■ 1 tbsp mustard powder■ 500ml white vinegar■ 100g white sugar■ 4 tbsp honey METHOD 1 Mix the vegetables with the salt, then leave in a bowl overnight. Drain the vegetables, rinse well and drain again. 2 Crush the coriander, cumin and fennel seeds using a pestle and mortar. Mix with the mustard seeds, turmeric, cornflour, mustard powder and enough white vinegar to make a double-cream consistency. 3 Put the rest of the vinegar in a huge pan with the sugar and honey. Heat gently until dissolved, then…

ACROSS 1 Help these long green plot favourites ripen by cutting away leaves (7) 7 Genus of palm trees with two species (6) 8 Part of the calyx of a flower (5) 9 Check for and __ bare patches in lawns (6) 10 __ officinalis is better known as marsh mallow (7) 11 Bring __ potted plants under cover before the risk of early frosts (6) 13 Acer palmatum ‘Orange __’ has fiery autumn colour (5) 16 Sap-sucking insect found on conifers (7) 19 Fruits of the oak (6) 20 __ formosana is also known as windowsill orchid (7) 21 Watch out for the grey larvae of rosemary __ (6) 22 Pelargonium ‘Fir __ Echoes of Pink’ flowers into autumn (5) DOWN 1 Sow this hardy, peppery green now for winter pickings…

What time is it? It’s later than you think. Tempus fugit. Or, as the sundial inscription so accurately but perhaps more optimistically explains: “I only count the sunny hours.” You know full well that when you’re out there pottering, the hours whizz by. There are those who become maudlin about the increasing speed at which ‘time flies’ and, true enough, the older one becomes, the faster the hours, minutes and seconds seem to slip through one’s fingers. Childhood summers seemed to last forever – long, sunny days fishing for minnows in the river, building dens in the woods or galloping over the moors (without a horse) pretending to be the Lone Ranger. The reason for this disparity in terms of perceived day length, it was explained to me, is that…