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The year ahead
What's on in the garden world
Flower shows, festivals and awareness days for the next twelve months. Dates shown in green were confirmed against the organiser's own website; everything else shows the month it usually falls in.
November
Garden Marlborough
Four days of guided garden tours, talks and workshops around Marlborough, ending with a free garden fete in Blenheim.
Australian Pollinator Week
A week encouraging people to notice and support native bees and other pollinators.
Hobart Rose and Iris Show
Roses and irises at their late-spring best, grown and shown by local gardeners on the Hobart waterfront. One of the floral shows the Hobart Horticultural Society has put on with the city since 1875.
National Tree Week
The start of the UK's winter tree-planting season, run by the Tree Council since 1975.
Kentish GardenFEST
A spring weekend when private gardens around Sheffield open to visitors. One ticket, sold in town, covers every garden for both days.
December
Magic of Christmas at The Butchart Gardens
The Butchart Gardens' winter season, with the gardens dressed in lights and festive displays from early December into the first week of January.
World Soil Day
A day for the living material everything in the garden depends on. Healthy soil is the whole game.
The December solstice
The shortest day in the northern hemisphere and the longest in the southern. The turning point of the year for daylight.
January
The Great Big Home + Garden Show
One of the country's biggest home shows, held in Cleveland each winter, with a garden showcase of planted displays among the home exhibitors. A chance to gather ideas for spring while the ground outside is still frozen.
February
World Wetlands Day
A day for the marshes, bogs and ponds that hold water and life. Even a small garden pond does a version of the same job.
The Orchid Show
The New York Botanical Garden fills its Victorian glasshouse with orchids through late winter and spring.
The Orchid Show, Chicago Botanic Garden
The Chicago Botanic Garden's yearly orchid show, with thousands of blooms filling its display greenhouses through late winter. Each year has a new theme.
Cleveland Botanical Garden Orchid Show
Cleveland Botanical Garden's yearly orchid show fills its indoor gardens and glasshouses with orchids in late winter, under a new theme each year. A good place to see orchids that grow well indoors and pick up care tips.
Blooms & Butterflies
Franklin Park Conservatory's yearly exhibition of tropical butterflies flying free among its glasshouse planting, from late winter into summer. A close look at which flowers butterflies feed on.
Calgary Home + Garden Show
A large late-winter home and garden show at Stampede Park, with exhibitors and guest talks. A good place to plan the season before the ground thaws.
Kentish FlowerFEST
The Kentish Garden Club's yearly flower show in Sheffield Town Hall, with dahlias, roses, cut flowers, home-grown vegetables and floral arrangements on the show bench. There are plant and produce stalls too.
Northwest Flower & Garden Festival
One of the first big shows of the American year, held in Seattle in February when most of the country is still frozen.
March
World Wildlife Day
A day about wild plants and animals and the habitats they need. Gardens are a surprisingly large share of that habitat.
EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival
A months-long festival of topiary and display planting running through the American spring.
Philadelphia Flower Show
The oldest and largest indoor flower show in the United States, run by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society since 1829.
Indiana Flower + Patio Show
Indianapolis's spring home and garden show at the State Fairgrounds, with feature gardens built for the show alongside garden and outdoor-living exhibitors.
Butterflies Are Blooming
Thousands of tropical butterflies released into the Frederik Meijer Gardens conservatory each spring, a show that has run for more than 30 years. The conservatory planting is worth the visit on its own.
Phipps Spring Flower Show
Phipps Conservatory fills its Victorian glasshouse rooms with spring bulbs and flowering plants, under a new theme each year. One of several seasonal flower shows Phipps puts on through the year.
Giardina
Switzerland's leading garden show, with designed show gardens, plants and outdoor living ideas at Messe Zürich.
Nordic Gardens fair
Scandinavia's big garden fair opens the season with show gardens, nurseries, talks and seeds at Stockholmsmässan.
Mainau Island flower season
The flower island on Lake Constance runs from spring tulips through summer roses to autumn dahlias, with exhibitions and plant markets along the way.
Hobart Dahlia Show
Dahlias at their late-summer peak, grown and shown by local gardeners in the Hobart Town Hall. One of the floral shows the Hobart Horticultural Society has put on with the city since 1875.
Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show
The southern hemisphere's largest horticultural event, held in the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens each autumn.
Keukenhof
Seven million spring bulbs planted every autumn and opened to the public for roughly eight weeks in spring.
The March equinox
Day and night are close to equal length everywhere. Spring begins in the north, autumn in the south.
International Day of Forests
A day for trees and what they do for us. A single garden tree still provides shade, shelter and food for wildlife.
World Water Day
A day about fresh water and using it carefully. Worth a thought for anyone with a hose or a water butt.
April
National Gardening Week
A week of free events and open gardens across the UK, run by the RHS.
Arbor Day Plant Sale
One of the largest spring plant sales in the Chicago region, with trees, shrubs, perennials, natives, vegetables and herbs picked to grow well in local gardens. Arboretum experts are on hand to help choose.
International Garden Festival, Chaumont-sur-Loire
Experimental show gardens built to a new theme each year and left in place for most of the growing season.
Saint-Jean-de-Beauregard Plant Fair
About 200 nurseries and growers fill the grounds and walled kitchen garden of a château south of Paris. An autumn edition follows in September.
Floralia Brussels
A month-long spring show of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths in the park of Groot-Bijgaarden Castle, just outside Brussels.
Royal Greenhouses of Laeken open days
For about three weeks each spring the King's glasshouses at Laeken open to the public, full of camellias, azaleas and other plants in flower.
Bulb Region Flower Parade
Floats covered in spring bulb flowers travel 42 km through the bulb fields from Noordwijk to Haarlem.
International Garden Exhibition 2027, Ruhr
Germany's national garden show for 2027, spread across the Ruhr with main gardens in Duisburg, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen and Lünen. The show moves city every few years.
Madeira Flower Festival
Funchal fills with flower carpets and displays, with two flower parades through the city centre, as the island's subtropical gardens reach their peak.
Flora Olomouc (spring)
The Czech Republic's largest flower and garden show fills its halls with floristry and plant displays, with a garden market of hundreds of stalls outside.
Festival of Flowers and Art at Książ Castle
Florists fill around 40 rooms of Książ Castle with arrangements over the long weekend around 1 May, with a carpet of flowers leading up to the castle.
Kifisia Flower Show
Growers fill Kifisia Grove with flowers, rare plants and garden stalls for about three weeks each spring. It goes back to 1896.
Earth Day
A worldwide day of environmental action, marked since 1970. Composting, planting or simply leaving a corner wild all count.
Arbor Day
America's tree-planting day, observed on the last Friday in April in most states and dating back to 1872.
May
RHS Malvern Spring Festival
An early-May show at the foot of the Malvern Hills, known for its plant nurseries and show gardens.
International Day of Plant Health
A day about keeping plants free of pests and disease. Most plant problems travel on plants we move about ourselves.
Canadian Tulip Festival
Ottawa's long-running spring festival, with beds of tulips in bloom around Dow's Lake. It grew from the Netherlands' wartime gift of tulip bulbs to Canada.
Rhapsody of Rhododendrons
Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens' late-spring celebration of its rhododendron collection in full flower.
Chantilly Plant Days
A plant fair in the park of the Château de Chantilly, where specialist nurseries from across Europe sell rare and unusual plants. An autumn edition follows in October.
Orticola
A long-running show and market of unusual, rare and heritage plants in Milan's public gardens, where specialist nurseries sell direct.
Tre Giorni per il Giardino (spring)
More than a hundred specialist nurseries bring rare and unusual plants to the park of Masino Castle, with talks and garden walks. An autumn edition follows in October.
Córdoba Patios Festival
Residents open their private courtyards, packed with potted geraniums, jasmine and climbers, for about two weeks each May. A UNESCO-listed tradition.
Floraart
Zagreb's international garden show spreads show gardens, nurseries and flower displays around Bundek lake and park. Entry is free.
RHS Chelsea Flower Show
The best-known flower show in the world, held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea each May. The planting ideas shown there filter into gardens for years afterwards.
World Bee Day
A day for bees and the other pollinators most of our food depends on. A patch of flowering plants is a real contribution.
International Day for Biological Diversity
A day about the variety of life and why it matters. A mixed garden supports far more of it than a tidy one.
June
World Environment Day
The United Nations' biggest day for environmental action, marked since 1973.
Bord Bia Bloom
Ireland's largest gardening festival, with show gardens, a nursery village and talks over the June bank holiday weekend in the Phoenix Park.
Rendez-vous aux jardins
Over one weekend in early June, public and private gardens across France and other European countries open with tours and activities.
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
A day about land drying out and losing its fertility. The principles that hold soil together in a garden hold it together anywhere.
The June solstice
The longest day in the northern hemisphere and the shortest in the southern. From here the daylight turns the other way.
National Pollinator Week
A week in June encouraging planting and habitat for bees, butterflies, birds and bats.
July
Singapore Garden Festival
A tropical flower and garden show held every other year, known for its indoor show gardens and orchid displays.
RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival
The RHS's largest show, spread across the grounds of Hampton Court Palace in early July.
RHS Flower Show Tatton Park
The RHS's northern show, held in the parkland at Tatton in late July.
National Tree Day
Australia's biggest community tree-planting event, held on the last Sunday in July.
World Mangrove Day
A day for the coastal forests that hold shorelines together and shelter an enormous amount of marine life.
August
Namaqualand wildflower season
After winter rain, millions of daisies and bulbs carpet the Succulent Karoo in one of the world's great wildflower displays. Flowers open fully on warm, sunny days.
Postberg flower season, West Coast National Park
The Postberg section opens only in the flower season, when fynbos and veld flowers fill the hills above Langebaan Lagoon.
Debrecen Flower Carnival
Floats covered in hundreds of thousands of flowers parade through the city on 20 August, Hungary's national holiday, with a week of events around it.
September
Tulip Time
Tens of thousands of tulips planted in the Southern Highlands and opened to the public each spring.
Floriade
Australia's biggest celebration of spring, a month of massed bulb planting in Commonwealth Park.
Gardens of Light
An evening walk through the Montreal Botanical Garden's Chinese, Japanese and First Nations gardens, lit after dark.
Zundert Flower Parade
Huge floats covered in dahlias, built by the village's own districts, parade through Zundert each September.
International Garden Fair Tulln
Austria's big garden fair on the Danube, with around 450 exhibitors and a whole hall given to a flower show.
Murabilia
A plant fair on Lucca's old city walls and in its botanic garden, with more than 200 exhibitors, mostly nurseries, and a new garden theme each year.
Table Cape Tulip Farm tulip season
A working bulb farm on the Table Cape headland that opens its tulip fields to visitors for a few weeks each spring. The fields sit above Bass Strait, and the colour is usually best in early October.
Launceston Horticultural Society Spring Show
The spring flower show of the Launceston Horticultural Society, founded in 1838 and one of the oldest garden societies in Australia. Local growers show and judge their spring flowers, with plants for sale.
Spring Festival, Wellington Botanic Garden
A month of free open days, guided walks and talks celebrating spring at Wellington Botanic Garden and Ōtari-Wilton's Bush.
Fernkloof Flower Show
Hundreds of flowering fynbos specimens on show at Fernkloof Nature Reserve, run by the Hermanus Botanical Society for more than 60 years.
World Ozone Day
Marks the treaty that repaired the ozone layer — one of the clearest cases of an environmental problem actually being fixed.
Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers
A month of parades, garden competitions and public planting displays, running since 1949.
The September equinox
Day and night are close to equal length again. Autumn begins in the north, spring in the south.
October
Tre Giorni per il Giardino (autumn)
The autumn edition of the Masino Castle plant fair, a good time to buy trees, shrubs, bulbs and perennials for planting.
Wynyard Tulip Festival
A free community festival in Wynyard's Gutteridge Gardens, held while the tulips are out at nearby Table Cape. It is run by Waratah-Wynyard Council and ends with fireworks over the Inglis River.
Annual Tomato Plant Sale
The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens sells dozens of heirloom tomato varieties and cool-climate chillies over one weekend. It falls around the time Hobart gardeners traditionally plant out their tomatoes.
Taranaki Garden Festival
Ten days of open private and public gardens across Taranaki, now in its 39th year, with a fringe festival of home gardens on the same days.
World Food Day
A day about how the world is fed. A vegetable bed is a small answer to a very large question.