From Sewing to Sowing

September 23, 2026

* I was invited to this year’s Gardeners’ World Live preview and provided with a pair of tickets for the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

This is the perfect name for a garden isn’t it? I think the designer Annabel Davies should win a prize solely for that, and I’m sure she’s very happy with the Gold award that the judges gave her, but even so - or should that be sew?

But anyway, the garden reflects Annabel’s journey from sewing film costumes to gardening after she discovered a love of growing flowers and vegetables in 2020, which sounds like the perfect lockdown distraction too. And I think I’d love to see her costume designs if this is what her garden’s look like, don’t you agree?

From Sewing to Sowing, Annabel Davies, Gardeners' World Live 2026

But I digress, the garden is inspired by Arts & Crafts gardens and combines ornamental and productive planting - so no doubt another reason why it scored so highly for me. The show notes said that the garden uses a ‘varied textures of flowers and vegetables much like fabrics bring life to a costume design’.

And looking at this garden again a month or two after the show, that totally makes sense - the dense planting (another favourite of mine) meshing together to form the fabric of the garden.

All the while the plants are struggling to be contained by the raised beds and so spill over the edges with abundance.

It really is a garden, with planting that’s full of joy. Sigh.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for once again inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was another great show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

The Mill Ruins

September 9, 2026

In a strange quirk of fate I’m back today talking about mills. Yesterday it was sculptural woven tapestries inspired by a textile mill in West Yorkshire, and today it’s a garden inspired by the remnants of Lancashire’s historic mills. I’d like to say I planned it this way, but I didn’t - though I wish I had!

This garden on the APL Avenue was the first garden we saw at this year’s show, and it was a very good place to start. The garden, designed by 3DG explores a quiet moment where industry gives way to nature.

Looking through the Corten steel into the centre of the garden

As I previously said it’s inspired by the remnants of Lancashire’s historic mills, reclaimed brick, Corten steel and weathered oak echo the fragments left behind as the landscapes regenerate.

The Corten steel arch is definitely the eye catching entrance a show garden could hope for, but this garden is so much more than that. The path winds around layered planting and a shallow reflective pool, plus spotting those yellow red hot pokers in my first garden of the show is always going to be a win for me.

Spotting yellow red hot pokers in the border's planting

The path meanders around the central feature of the garden

The rain chain introduced sound, and was a subtle nod to the water than once powered the mills.

The rain chain behind the central feature with the sound of water

The majority of planting in this garden is native to the UK, and selected for its biodiversity and to soften the architectural forms. And while we might not all have these architectural elements in our gardens, unless we’ve added them of course, we can take inspiration from the planting.

a part brick wall in the foreground, with a seating area in the background on a raised platform

The Mill Ruins is a garden about renewal, where structure fades, and nature quietly takes back control - and I love that for it, and I love this garden. I knew when I saw this garden that it was going to be a good show, and it certainly was.

Threads of Life

August 21, 2026

The theme for this year’s Beautiful Borders was “Once Upon a Time” and it’s one that the garden designers really embraced, in fact I don’t think it’s been more evident what the theme has been from a wander around the garden. Perhaps that’s because we all love stories, and love to retell them and I definitely think that’s part of it.

It was great to chat with Jan O’Brien about this garden and how it came about by reflecting of fifty years of lived experiences, with chapters still unfolding, and how it became the an invitation to tell her story, and the importance to her of its support for MND awareness. There’s so much more that I could say about this, but instead I’ll share a link to Jan’s SubStack so you can read her words for yourself.

Threads of Life, Jan O'Brien - Gardeners' World Live 2026

But just looking at my photos of the garden you can see how much love, thought and hard work has gone into it and it’s clear to see that it’s inspired by sewing and textiles - the planted sewing machine and workbox were definitely eye catchers.

As we were talking and Jan explained the journey and inspiration for the garden, and how that everything there held meaning, I suddenly saw that the uprights throughout the gardens were in fact large scale needles and my mind was once again blown at the level of detail she’d incorporated into a garden which is small, and yet full of space.

It really was a beautiful garden, and Jan was equally as generous with her time so it was great to cheer her on when she was awarded Platinum for this garden, which she wanted to give people hope. I think it gave people just that, with a huge dollop of joy too.