De-Graft Mensah and Lucy Chamberlain to create Beautiful Borders at BBC Gardeners’ World 2026 events
BBC Newsround presenter and allotmenteer, De-Graft Mensah, and garden designer Lucy Chamberlain are co-creating a collection of eye-catching borders for this year’s BBC Gardeners’ World events, inspired by the BBC Gardeners’ World Make a Metre Matter campaign. The campaign has seen gardeners pledge more than 15,500 planet-friendly metres that will support the UK’s 30by30 target to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030.
BBC Gardeners’ World events are fertile ground for new ideas, with 2026 set to be a bumper year for garden inspiration. Head to the flagship BBC Gardeners’ World Live for sensational summer show gardens, the Floral Marquee and thousands of plants, including brand new varieties. The Spring and Autumn Fairs offer great days out in glorious heritage locations, with seasonal gardening advice, hands-on workshops, lifestyle shopping and a fun, festival vibe. Great food and drink at each event are a given!
Spring starts
First up in the BBC Gardeners’ World live event calendar for 2026 is the BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair. This vibrant celebration of spring gardening takes place at Beaulieu in the New Forest, Hampshire from 1–3 May 2026. The Spring Fair features a host of horticultural highlights, and tickets provide full access to Beaulieu’s extensive grounds, gardens and attractions, including Palace House and the National Motor Museum.
Headline sponsor Hillier Garden Centres and Nurseries will wow visitors with their vibrant Neighbourhood of Gardens. With four distinct zones – a Family Garden, a Potted Garden, a Cottage Garden and an Urban Jungle Garden, this clever, inter-connected design celebrates the diversity of contemporary gardens and gardeners. At the Hillier Experience, visitors can shop for plants featured in the Neighbourhood of Gardens, get expert advice and enjoy talks by horticultural specialists like David Austin Roses.
The Spring Fair has further Showcase Gardens, Beautiful Borders, and specialist nurseries selling top-quality plants. Student teams from Coastland (formerly Weymouth and Kingston Maurward) and Merrist Wood Colleges will compete in the Spring Fair’s College Gardens competition. Mentored by award-winning garden designer, Cherry Carmen, the teams will be designing imaginative gardens, inspired by a creative theme of ‘Reimagined Traditions’.
BBC Gardeners’ World presenters Adam Frost (Friday), Frances Tophill (Saturday), Ashley Edwards and Sue Kent (both Sunday) will join David Hurrion and the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine editors on stage, sharing expert advice for the spring gardening season. There are wreath making and bug hotel workshops, garden tours by the Spring Fair’s Plant Experts, quality plant, garden and lifestyle shopping, and vintage games for families. Ade Sellars will be chatting ‘plot-to-plate’ with a lineup of guests at the In Conversation Stage, including Good Food editor and chef, Barney Desmazery.
Food and drink writer and broadcaster, Andy Clarke, will be hosting the Spring Table. This stylish alfresco space will feature tasting sessions with Beaulieu winery, B58, New Forest distillers, 820 Spirits, and Spring Table sponsor, Regent Seven Sea Cruises. Feeling peckish? There’s delicious food and drink, live music and street food at the Good Food Market.
Book now at www.bbcgardenersworldfair.com. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine subscribers and Hillier Garden Club members enjoy discounted tickets and exclusive access to the Club Lounge. Parking is free. Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome (outdoor areas).
Summer spectacular
In warm, sunny June, more than 90,000 keen gardeners flock to BBC Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC Birmingham (18-21 June) to share the joys of summer gardening. Fabulous flora, foliage and famous gardening faces are just some of the many highlights of this popular, annual spectacular.
Dozens of award-winning designers and landscapers, first-time creators, schools, charities and organisations will be showcasing their designs. From large, ambitious Show Gardens to smaller Beautiful Borders, planted wheelbarrows and trolleys, there’s take-home inspiration at every turn. The event’s Beautiful Borders competition will feature fascinating stories told through plants, with a creative theme of ‘Once Upon a Time’.
Professor Alice Roberts, the anatomist, biological anthropologist, author and broadcaster, and acclaimed international garden designer Professor David Stevens are creating the headline Show Garden at BBC Gardeners’ World Live 2026. The Evolution Garden will trace the evolution of plants and life forms through to the present day. Highlights will include a tunnel entrance, a central path that travels through time, primitive plants and the beginnings of human life. Alice will host live, daily conversations from the garden. Experts from Hillier, plant suppliers for the garden, will be sharing advice about the plants featured.
The Association of Professional Landscapers returns this year to celebrate ten years of APL Avenue at BBC Gardeners’ World Live. A selection of APL member companies will design and build stylish outdoor living spaces which demonstrate professional landscapers’ technical skills, attention to detail and creative use of materials. Experts at the APL Design Clinic will be offering visitors garden planning advice and support.
At the BBC Gardeners’ World Live Theatre, Nicki Chapman and BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine’s Content Director, Kevin Smith, welcome Monty Don, Adam Frost and Frances Tophill for entertaining summer gardening chat and advice, with Professor Alice Roberts discussing The Evolution Garden. Social media gardening personality Jonny Hincks (Gardenwithjonny) joins Theatre sponsor, British Garden Centres, on Saturday and Sunday. This year’s theatre will be a more intimate experience with unallocated seating and tickets priced at just £5, or free of charge for British Garden Centres sessions.
De-Graft Mensah will join the fun, sharing his passion for edible plants and discussing his role as a schools ambassador for Make a Meal Matter. In this exciting new development for the BBC Gardeners’ World Make a Metre Matter campaign, local schoolchildren will be planting and growing ingredients for their favourite meals in one-metre wheelbarrows. Last year’s Make a Metre Matter campaign saw UK gardeners commit to creating more than 15,500 nature- and planet-friendly metres, from mini ponds and salad plots to pollinator patches and compost spaces.
Adam Frost returns to host the BBC Gardeners’ World Live Tasting Table, featuring live cooking demonstrations, summer food inspiration and culinary guests from BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine and Good Food. New for 2026 is the QVC Outdoor Living Stage with exciting lifestyle inspiration. Emma Jo Real-Davies and Michael Perry (Mr Plant Geek) will be sharing their plant knowledge while Ninja bring their outdoor cooking know-how. Award-winning designers Kitti Kovacs and Anouska Lancaster will have styling tips, and Neom will be talking summer scent and candlelight. Barbecue fans will love the exciting new Smoke & Fire Zone, featuring BBQ Alley for grill shopping, expert chefs and cooks, the Monolith BBQ School, the Ember Artisan Market with specialist makers and suppliers dedicated to outdoor cooking and craftsmanship, and the Eat Heat Retreat Garden, a stylish space for cooking, eating, entertaining and unwinding, complete with a wood-fired sauna and hot tub. Floral bouquet workshops hosted by Jordan Weston (The Bearded Botanist) are another new addition this year. Music fans will enjoy BBC Introducing … at BBC Gardeners’ World Live, an exciting new showcase for local music talent, and there are Bandstand buskers too.
The BBC Gardeners’ World Live Floral Marquee, sponsored by L&G, never fails to impress with its displays by leading plant nurseries and growers, the International Orchid Show, and the Hot Off the Potting Bench gallery of new plants – all contenders for the event’s Peter Seabrook Award for Best New Plant. New highlights for the Floral Marquee this year are a Book Shop with author signings, H.W. Hyde and Son’s Centenary display, and Caley Brothers’ immersive celebration of mushrooms. Head to the Let’s Talk Plants Stage, sponsored by Hillier, for industry-leading plant knowledge and drop by the Plant Experts’ advice desk for help with plant problems. Wool Pots return to the Floral Marquee with their eco-conscious Pot Swap initiative, swapping more than 8,500 plastic plant pots for zero-waste, natural wool alternatives at last year’s event.
Tickets for BBC Gardeners’ World Live include entry to Good Food Show Summer, featuring kitchen talks and demonstrations by well-known chefs, food and drink to taste and take home, and shopping. Buy tickets now at www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com, including VIP and two-day options. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine subscribers enjoy discounted tickets and access to the Subscriber Lounge for up to three friends, with exclusive talks, extra seating and refreshment options.
Autumn at Audley End
Mellow September days set the tone for the BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair at English Heritage’s beautiful Audley End House and Gardens in Saffron Walden, Essex (11–13 September). There’s seasonal inspiration throughout with Showcase Gardens, Beautiful Borders and floral displays that are rich in colour and texture, and the Autumn Table featuring harvest-themed food and drink workshops. At the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Stage, presenters Frances Tophill (Friday), Adam Frost (Saturday), Ashley Edwards and Sue Kent (both Sunday), and the Magazine team will be sharing autumnal advice for the cooler months to come.
New for 2026, the Association of Professional Landscapers will be championing the next generation of landscaping talent with a Showcase Garden supported by apprentices from three local member companies. Head to the APL’s Design Clinic for expert advice on gardening planning. In addition, there are Plant Expert tours of the organic Kitchen Gardens, dried flower wreath workshops, extensive plant and garden shopping, a street food village, live music, and delicious food and drink to taste and buy at the Good Food Market.
Tickets are available at www.bbcgardenersworldfair.com and include full access to Audley End House, its grounds and gardens. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine subscribers enjoy discounted tickets and exclusive access to the Autumn Fair’s Club Lounge with extra seating, exclusive talks and additional refreshment options. English Heritage members enjoy ticket discounts too. Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome in outdoor areas at no extra cost.
Lucy Ashworth, Event Director at Immediate Live, organisers of BBC Gardeners’ World events, said: “You can’t beat the experience of seeing wonderful plants, gardens and experts up close and in person, and that’s exactly what visitors enjoy about BBC Gardeners’ World events. We’re thrilled to have Professor Alice Roberts and De-Graft Mensah joining us this year and there are great new highlights at all three locations this year, alongside favourite features like the show gardens and Borders, plant displays and stages, workshops, talks, tours and more. No matter how green your fingers, there’s always so much to see, learn and do at BBC Gardeners’ World Live and our heritage location Fairs, and you’ll never go home empty handed!”
www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com
www.bbcgardenersworldfair.com
© BBC Gardeners’ World events for imagery
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Three lucky people can be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets to BBC Gardeners’ World Live, valid for Sunday 21st June at 9.00am, by filling in the form below!
(One entry per person, all other entries will not be counted and competition closes two weeks before the event)