12 breathtaking images to inspire you to enter the International Garden Photographer of the Year
Entries are open to discover this year's International Garden Photographer of the Year – and the pictures on this page give you some idea of the incredible standard that of the competition.

Anyone is free to enter the International Garden Photographer of the Year, so long as their submissions arrive by the deadline of October 31. So if you have a plant portrait, garden picture or a fantastical botanical landscape sitting on your camera's memory card, now is the time to send it off.
There's a prize for the overall winner of £7,500, while the winners of specific portfolios win £2,000 and a gold medal from the Royal Photographic Society. The winners will also have the honour of seeing their pictures exhibited at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew from February 2019, after which the exhibition will go on tour across the world.
As you'll see from the pictures below, entries go far beyond gardens – the awards are a celebration of nature in every environment, whether wild or artificial. There's a long list of categories you can enter, including 'Beautiful Gardens', 'The Bountiful Earth' and 'Greening the City', and an 'Abstract Views' category which has seen photographers pushing the genre and expanding our perception of nature.
Get more details and enter the competition at igpoty.com – the closing date is October 31.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year: 13 magnificent pictures and the stories behind them
The stories behind these shortlist pictures from the Natural History Museum's much-loved Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition are as
Credit: The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, takes the salute during the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle. (©Jane Barlow/PA)
Seven superb pictures of the Royal Family by the Royal Photographer of the Year
Jane Barlow of the Press Association was named Royal Photographer of the Year on Monday night. Here's a selection of
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Credit: ©Landscape Photographer of the Year awards - Ken Rennie
15 majestic photographs of Britain that will inspire you to enter the Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards
If you've taken a superb photograph of Britain in the past year, you're still in time to submit it to
Toby Keel is Country Life's Digital Director, and has been running the website and social media channels since 2016. A former sports journalist, he writes about property, cars, lifestyle, travel, nature.
-
The finest interiors in Edinburgh? A seven-bedroom townhouse furnished by Robert Kime comes to market
Situated on one of the New Town's grandest terraces, this four-storey property is a collector's dream.
By James Fisher Published
-
Why LOEWE decided to reimagine the teapot, 25 great designs over
Loewe has commissioned 25 world-leading artists to design a teapot, in time for Salone del Mobile.
By Amie Elizabeth White Published
-
The man who trekked Bhutan, Mongolia, Japan, Tasmania and New Zealand to bring the world's greatest magnolias back to Kent : 'A whirlwind of charm and energy... and a prince among plantsmen'
Magnolias don't get any more magnificent than the examples in the garden at White House Farm in Kent, home of Maurice Foster. Many of them were collected as seed in the wild — and they are only one aspect of his enthralling garden.
By Charles Quest-Ritson Published
-
The 'breathtakingly magnificent' English country gardens laid out on the Amalfi Coast, and the story of how they got there
Kirsty Fergusson follows the Grand Tour to Campania in Italy, where the English combined their knowledge and love of plants with the rugged landscape to create gardens of extraordinary beauty.
By Kirsty Fergusson Published
-
Have your say in the Historic Houses Garden of the Year Awards 2025
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
Evenley Wood Garden: 'I didn't know a daffodil from a daisy! But being middle-aged, ignorant and obstinate, I persisted'
When Nicola Taylor took on her plantsman father’s flower-filled woodland, she knew more about horses than trees, but, as Tiffany Daneff discovers, that hasn’t stopped her from making a great success of the garden. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
-
An expert guide to growing plants from seed
All you need to grow your own plants from seed is a pot, some compost, water and a sheltered place.
By John Hoyland Published
-
The best rhododendron and azalea gardens in Britain
It's the time of year when rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias and many more spring favourites are starting to light up the gardens of the nation. Here are the best places to go to enjoy them at their finest.
By Amie Elizabeth White Published
-
Great Comp: The blissful garden flooded with rhododendrons and azaleas that's just beyond the M25
Each spring, Great Comp Garden — just outside the M25, near Sevenoaks — erupts into bloom, with swathes of magnolias, azaleas and rhododendrons. Charles Quest-Ritson looks at what has become one of the finest gardens to visit in Kent.
By Charles Quest-Ritson Published
-
'I'm the expert who wrote the RHS's guide to roses — here's why pruning them right now is almost certainly a terrible mistake'
More roses die from over-pruning than any other cause so what’s the reasoning underpinning this horticultural habit? Charles Quest-Ritson, the garden expert who wrote the RHS Encyclopedia of Roses, takes a closer look.
By Charles Quest-Ritson Last updated