The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) has revealed what to expect from the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) and its members during the upcoming flower show and garden festival season.
The APL, which comprises almost 400 designers, landscapers and professional gardeners, will showcase gardens designed and built by members at eight key shows throughout the year. The season kicks off with the Harrogate Spring Flower Show, the first major event in the national gardening calendar, in less than two weeks' time.
The APL team will also provide free advice through Landscape and Design clinics at most shows, where visitors can attend regular drop-in sessions and have their questions answered.
© Horticultural Trades Association'The Pursuit of Excellence Garden' celebrated the APL's 30th anniversary at last year's BBC Gardeners' World Autumn Fair
Highlights
'Over the Garden Fence' at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show. Compact gardens designed by APL members to demonstrate getting the most out of a small urban garden space.
The APL Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) Garden at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show, designed to manage rainfall naturally by allowing water to soak into the ground, rather than running off into drains.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, where numerous APL members are involved in designing and building almost twenty of the show gardens.
Marking a decade of APL Avenue at BBC Gardeners' World Live in Birmingham with three outstanding APL member gardens to view.
The headline show garden 'The Evolution Garden' at BBC Gardeners' World Live in Birmingham, built by APL member Design It Landscapes.
The Macmillan Cancer Research garden at RHS Badminton, created by APL member Artisan Landscapes.
The RHS Royal Legacy Garden at RHS Sandringham, designed by Catherine MacDonald from APL member Landform Consultants and built by APL member Gadd Brothers Trees & Landscapes.
A collaborative apprentice garden at BBC Gardeners' World Autumn Fair at Audley End, where APL members will build a showcase garden whilst mentoring apprentices.
Phil Tremayne, APL General Manager, said: "These shows are the perfect opportunity for our members to demonstrate their talent, quality of builds and professionalism. It also offers consumers the chance to see first-hand the benefits of choosing APL landscapers and designers for their projects. Every year, our members have an exciting portfolio of designs and builds to impress the public, which includes soft and hard landscaping, gardens on a budget, and show-stopping, aspirational garden designs. We really can accommodate every need.
"The highlight for me this year is the celebration of marking ten years of APL Avenue at BBC Gardeners' World Live. It will be the final APL Avenue, as the show moves to a new venue next year, but we have some exciting ideas in the pipeline for what will replace it... so watch this space."
For more information about the APL's upcoming shows, click here.
The shows in 2026
Harrogate Spring Flower Show (23 - 26 April 2026): 'Over the Garden Fence' – Two of the three small gardens (5x4metres) are created by APL members Melissa Morton, Land Masons and J Paxman Landscapes. These unique gardens for smaller and urban spaces are designed for real homes and everyday living and demonstrate how the perfect garden can be achieved through even the most compact of spaces.
'The Breathing Space' designed by APL member Melissa Morton and built by APL member Land Masons: This compact show garden explores how small urban spaces can nurture wellbeing through thoughtful design, honest materials and a closer relationship with nature. Inspired by Nordic design principles and grounded in Yorkshire materials, the 4×5m space is centred around a small, beautifully crafted garden sauna for two, a place of warmth, ritual and quiet restoration. A simple timber boardwalk leads through relaxed, naturalistic planting, guiding movement from the everyday into a calmer, more reflective setting.
© Horticultural Trades Association
Designed to move beyond purely summer use, the garden demonstrates how modest spaces can remain purposeful throughout the year. The sauna and outdoor shower introduce alternative ways to occupy the garden, while locally quarried stone forms a bench, a bird bath, and subtle sculptural elements that reference local heritage and the enduring appeal of materials that weather in harsh environments over time. Grasses and seasonal planting soften the built structure, bringing movement, texture and wildlife value, and a compact metal bistro set offers space for conversation or quiet pause. Together, the elements show how considered design can create small gardens that feel grounded, restorative and quietly connected to the natural world.
'Common Ground' by APL member J Paxman Landscapes: Common Ground is a small urban garden that explores how shared outdoor spaces can bring people together across age, background, and experience. Designed as a single, enclosed garden room, the space is organised around shared activity. Modular planters of varying heights form a sculptural boundary and productive edge where people can grow plants together, while integrated seating encourages pause, conversation, and informal gathering. A central seating area and cantilevered bench anchors the garden.
© Horticultural Trades Association
Reused and low-impact materials are central to the design. Reclaimed timber forms a simple gateway that marks arrival, while recycled plastic planters and demountable elements ensure the garden can be relocated and reassembled after the show. Community contribution is embedded within the fabric of the garden, from hand-painted pebbles set into the wall to collaborative artwork forming the rear boundary.
Intended to be adaptable and replicable, Common Ground responds to the need for generous, shared spaces within dense urban environments; places where growing, making, and sitting together can create connection and a sense of belonging.
The APL Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) Garden, designed by APL General Manager Phil Tremayne: Modern landscaping isn't just about appearance; it's also about how a garden manages rainwater. Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are designed to manage rainfall naturally by allowing water to soak into the ground rather than running off into drains.
© Horticultural Trades Association
Permeable materials, such as gravel or permeable paving, allow water to pass through into specially prepared layers below. This helps to reduce the risk of flooding, prevent water pooling and ease pressure on local drainage systems.
BBC Gardener's World Spring Fair, Beaulieu (1 - 3 May 2026)
Accredited professionals from the APL will be at the show providing a Landscape and Design Clinic, for practical ideas and expert design advice.
The trusted and professional guidance is free as part of regular drop-in sessions: 09.30 - 10.30; 11.30 - 12.30; 13.30 - 14.30; and15.30 - 16.00.
RHS Malvern Spring Festival (7 - 10 May 2026)
'The Blessings from the Sea' presents the story of Chollipo Arboretum, Korea's first private arboretum, founded by Carl Ferris Miller, who transformed barren coastal land into a thriving botanical sanctuary. The planting design focuses on wind and salt-tolerant species that evoke coastal dunes, shelterbelts and seasonal interest, complemented by companion plants that naturally associate with coastal dune vegetation. The garden features approximately 1,332 individual plants.
© Horticultural Trades Association
'The Crafted Garden – designed for a changing climate' designed by APL member Jamie Dobinson from Crafted Landscapes:
'The Crafted Garden' is inspired by British woodland and its long-recognised ability to offer calm, shelter and restoration. Woodland spaces have an inherent therapeutic quality. Moving beneath trees encourages a slower pace, quiet reflection and a sense of ease that can steady the mind and body.
© Horticultural Trades Association
'Clay - The Super Soil' feature garden, designed by APL member Martyn Wilson, a multi-award-winning garden designer and the director of Wilson Associates Garden Design and built by APL member JG Landscaping Ltd:
© Horticultural Trades Association
Nobody ever said gardening would be easy, and one of the many challenges gardeners face is working with clay soil. Trees, shrubs and plants throughout the garden demonstrate those species best suited to planting in clay soils, including an orchard area underplanted with wildflower turf providing a space for the public to sit and enjoy the garden and the festival.
RHS Chelsea Flower Show (19 - 22 May 2026)
APL members will be designing and building various show gardens, small show gardens and 'All About Plants' gardens at the world-famous show.
BBC Gardener's World Live – Birmingham (18 - 21 June 2026)
The 2026 show marks ten years of 'APL Avenue' at the NEC Birmingham, a creative collaboration devised a decade ago to showcase ambitious, high-quality design and professional partnerships involving the APL's garden designers and landscapers. Since 2016, more than forty member businesses have been selected to create gardens for BBC Gardeners' World Live, many of them scooping top awards along the way. This year's APL Avenue gardens include:
'The Umbrellas Garden' by APL member Dave Hodson Gardens: Inspired by the French New Wave film, 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg' (1964), this garden reflects the film's vibrant aesthetic, with bold colour incorporated into the hard landscaping, in canopies of strung umbrellas, and with jewel coloured planting that pops against a canvas of grasses. The inclusion of spiky plants hints that the course of true love is rarely smooth.
© Horticultural Trades Association
'The Constant Companion' by APL member TJ Kennedy Garden & Landscape Design: 'The Constant Companion' celebrates the relationship between human and garden, man and nature. This interactive garden features visual and audio elements that will connect visitors with simple but essential gardening tasks. Framed viewpoints highlight different aspects; one wild, one productive and one contemporary, each with its own characteristics.
© Horticultural Trades Association
'The Mill Ruins' by APL member Gunns and Roses Ltd, designed by David Gisbourne from 3DG: 'The Mill Ruins' is inspired by the sites of old Lancashire mills. Once the powerhouses of the Industrial Revolution, the only remaining evidence that the mills ever existed are a few brick walls, old doorways, and the occasional heavily corroded remains of metalwork, poking out as nature reclaims the land. An imposing Corten steel moon gate stands at the garden's entrance, with further Corten and reclaimed brick features providing a reminder of its industrial roots. Ninety per cent of the planting varieties in this garden are native to the UK.
© Horticultural Trades Association
'The Evolution Garden' the headline show garden built by APL member Design It Landscapes: 'The Evolution Garden' was conceived by Alice Roberts and designed by David Stevens, and traces the evolution of plants and animal life forms from their first appearance on our planet. Visitors will be able to walk through a living landscape that starts with views of dramatic rocks, scree and cascading water of the Cambrian age of some 450 million years ago. They will pass swamps from the Devonian and Carboniferous, planted with mosses, horsetails and ferns before entering the Carboniferous era, where plant life diversifies, and giant dragonflies swoop overhead.
RHS Sandringham (22 - 26 July 2026)
'The RHS Royal Legacy Garden' designed by Catherine MacDonald from APL member Landform Consultants and built by APL member Gadd Brothers Trees & Landscapes: 'The RHS Royal Legacy Garden' celebrates the horticultural legacy of His Majesty King Charles III, draws inspiration from naturally occurring branching patterns, and includes paths that lead visitors through a biodiverse mix of trees and plants.
© Horticultural Trades Association
'100 Sweet Summers' show garden, designed by APL member Kitti Kovacs and built by APL member Cobham Court Landscaping: '100 Sweet Summers' explores the balance between nostalgia and innovation through the story of a retired couple who cherish life's simple pleasures.
© Horticultural Trades Association
'The Rhythm of Rainwater' Grow Forward garden, built by APL member Conway Landscapes: 'The Rhythm of Rainwater' is an immersive garden that transforms rain into both a visual and musical experience, highlighting the importance of rainwater harvesting.
© Horticultural Trades Association
For more information:
Horticultural Trades Association
[email protected]
www.hta.org.uk
