Talented garden design teams from across the West Midlands will unveil stunning Beautiful Borders and Showcase Gardens at BBC Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC Birmingham next month.

Much loved at BBC Gardeners’ World Events’, the Beautiful Borders competition is designed to offer inspiration for small gardens and challenging spaces.At just 9m2, the small-space show gardens are packed with creative planting and design features. This year’s Beautiful Borders theme is My Garden Escape.

The Cure Leukaemia Sunflower Display has been designed by Kingswinford mum, Andrea Childs, as a tribute to her daughter, Beth, who sadly passed away from leukaemia in 2018, aged just 20. Andrea grows sunflowers in her garden in memory of her daughter, selling the seeds to raise money for national blood cancer charity, Cure Leukaemia. Andrea has raised thousands of pounds for Cure Leukaemia and will be selling fundraising sunflower seeds and plants throughout the show weekend.

Also from Kingswinford are Ashwood Nurseries who will present a stunning walk-through floral display in the BBC Gardeners’ World Live Floral Marquee, depicting the history of the award-winning nursery and its landscaped gardens.  

RHS Level 2 students from Winterbourne Centre for Horticulture, Birmingham have designed the Wander and Wonder border with Warwickshire garden designer, Paul Marshall, as a place to explore and escape. Under dappled shade, a meandering path resembling the bed of a once flowing stream lead through naturalistic planting to a secluded seating area, a tranquil pool and woodland sanctuary.

Another Winterbourne student, Katie Day, has designed As You Like It, a border inspired by the Shakespeare play, set down the road from the NEC in the Forest of Arden. The design features a formal Tudor Parterre style garden with tightly clipped hedging, a decorative arch and log path, informal woodland style planting and a feature Hawthorn tree. Planting features the pink, blue and white colours of the trans flag, reflecting the gender swapping of the play’s Rosalind.

Eleanor Morgan, a garden designer from Kings Heath in Birmingham, has found inspiration in the escapism of being lost in a good book, and will be creating a haven for book lovers called Paradise in a Paperback. 

Moor Pool based garden designer Cathy Perry’s Showcase Garden, Where there’s a Willow, combines a mix of wild, cultivated and edible plants, natural materials and upcycled junk, and will be donated to Birmingham Hospice after the show ends.

Halesowen-based designer, Steven Ballinger, will be creating A Quiet Corner, a calm space to sit, relax and slow down, surrounded by plants and foliage, and Laura Houghton from Great Barr has designed the Seven Days of Creation border, inspired by gardens as places to reconnect with spirituality and to think widely about our existence.

A Shared Chrysalis by Stourbridge designer, Rachel Wells from Hortulani, is designed to create a protective, nurturing space to share with butterflies and moths throughout each stage of their development. Using plants that attract butterflies and moths during both day and night, the border incorporates water, resting areas and different habitats for different stages of the life cycle.

The Quiet Garden is designed by Gill Fothergill and Fay Grist from Link Nurseries, a small plant nursery and horticultural wellbeing centre in Powick, Worcestershire, part of Warwickshire College Group. The border represents Link Nurseries’ own Quiet Garden which features summer flowers and perennials, a wildlife friendly stumpery, a potted herb garden and vertical pallet garden, a log slab pathway leading to a ‘Well Bean’ vegetable patch where club members grow salad crops, and a colourful wildflower meadow.

BBC Gardeners' World Live takes place at the NEC Birmingham from Thursday 15 - Sunday 18 June. Tickets are available from £25. Quote WHATSON at checkout to save 20%

To book, visit: bbcgardenersworldlive.com