The best gardening accounts to follow on Instagram

Instagram is a constant source of inspiration for those of us in the design world. Bursting with beautiful interiors and gardens, it's the perfect way to keep up with the news and, frankly, to just wallow in lovely imagery. Here are our picks of the best gardeners to follow, from the world's top garden designers to exciting emerging talents.

Polly Nicholson - @bayntunflowers

Flower grower Polly Nicholson broadcasts the best bits of her job from her heavenly garden in Wiltshire, where she holds a National Collection of historic tulips. Polly's flower arrangements are just as inspiring as her garden, with tulipières, collections of pots, and beautifully decorated tables to inspire you at home.

Rachel de Thame - @racheldethame

Writer and broadcaster Rachel de Thame is best known as a presenter on BBC Gardener's World, and her delightful Instagram account brings you behind the scenes moment from the show as well as dispatches from her own Cotswold garden. Rachel is always out and about in the garden world, so this is a great place to find other gardeners to follow.

Borde Hill Garden - @bordehillgarden

This 2,300 acre family estate in West Sussex has had a garden since the Elizabethan house at its core was built in 1598. There are thirteen garden rooms in the garden itself, plus Grade II-listed parkland around it, and woodland beyond that. The Instagram account offers updates on the garden, plus tips for what to do in your garden each season, and news about the many upcoming events and workshops at Borde Hill.

Charlie Harpur - @charlie.harpur

Kew-trained gardener Charlie Harpur is the head gardener at Knepp Wilding (another great follow, @kneppwilding) and shares inspiring pictures from his projects and work at the Knepp Estate in West Grinstead, particularly the walled garden.

Dan Pearson - @coyotewillow

Winner of the House & Garden Garden Designer of the Year award in 2019, Dan is one of the UK’s most successful garden designers and an inspiration to follow for his landscape shots and close ups of seasonal blooms.

Tom Stuart Smith - @tomstuartsmith

With an international reputation as one of the UK’s foremost landscape designers, Tom is known for his large-scale, richly textured perennial planting that is both sustainable and beautiful. His account documents his surrounds and work.

Clare Foster - @clarefostergardens

Our very own garden editor is a joy to follow, sharing details of her daily tasks, progress of her country garden and insights into her upcoming shoots for the magazine.

Jinny Blom - @jinny.blom

With many an impressive project under her belt, spanning wild Highland gardens to her own London idyll, Jinny Blom posts vignettes of her work and daily life.

Piet Oudolf - @pietoudolf

The Dutch designer is a leader of the modern perennial movement and as such, followers can expect beguiling images of beautiful grasses and abundant borders filled with light and movement.

Arne Maynard - @arnemaynardgardendesign

Between his own Welsh garden and those he works on, Arne’s shots are filled with the classical, elegant designs he’s so well known for.

Jo Thompson - @jothompsongarden

Jo Thompson is known for soft, romantic planting and her Instagram represents that. Over advent last year, she posted a rose a day for her followers.

Arabella Lennox Boyd - @aralennoxboyd

As the owner of Gresgarth Hall, Arabella is responsible for creating one of the most lovely gardens in the UK, which she gives new views of constantly as she charts its seasonal changes.

Alasdair Cameron

One of our Top 50 Garden Designers, Alasdair Cameron heads up Cameron Gardens, whose projects across the UK are always created in harmony with the surrounding landscape. Missives from Alasdair's garden in Devon are particularly delightful.

Newby Hall - @newbyhallandgardens

This beautiful estate is one of Yorkshire's loveliest attractions, with vast gardens and plenty of things to keep children entertained. Follow their Instagram account to see behind the scenes of this impressive operation, and to see how the garden changes season by season.

Fernando Martos - @fernandomartosjardines

Based in Madrid, young Spanish garden designer Fernando is one to watch, and one to follow for sunny Mediterranean gardens. Recent projects in Mallorca and Mexico are a joy to behold.

Jimi Blake - @jimiblake_huntingbrookgardens

Jimi Blake is the owner and creator of Hunting Brook garden in Ireland and his account is a joyful document of its progress.

Marie Louise Agius - @marielouiseagius

Marie documents the resplendent colours of Exbury Gardens, through drone footage, gorgeous landscapes and plant close ups. Our favourite thing about her account, however, is the weekly #WheresWillow challenge to find her dog Willow amongst the planting.

Acres Wild - @acreswildgardendesign

Debbie Roberts and Ian Smith have run their hugely successful West Sussex garden-design practice for more than 30 years, and are masters of the art of creating generously planted gardens in a tightly structured framework.

Aaron Bertelsen - @aaronbertelsenofficial

Great Dixter gardener and expert vegetable grower, Aaron believes that everyone can grow something and encourages this sentiment on his Instagram.

Nigel Dunnett - @nigel.dunnett

With a philosophy of ‘low-input but high-impact’ gardens, Nigel creates dynamic gardens in tune with nature. Expect wildflower meadows and lots of colour.

Forde Abbey - @fordeabbey

Snippets from one of the UK’s most glorious gardens.

Green and Gorgeous - @gandgorgeousflowers

For soothing shots of romantic flowers, flower-growers and seed company Green and Gorgeous are hard to bear.

Verde Flowers - @verdeflowerco

Caroline Beck is a garden writer who also grows flowers for cutting in her walled Victorian garden. It’s heavenly.

Richard Wilford - @richardwilf

A home in Sussex and job at Kew Gardens means Richard has plenty of fodder for his lovely landscape images and detailed shots of flowers, berries and leaves.

Charlie McCormick - @mccormickcharlie

There are many reasons to follow Charlie, from his award-winning floral displays and giant vegetables, to his adorable corgis, even more adorable ducks and enviable life between Dorset and a bothy in Scotland.

Chiltern Seeds - @chilternseeds

With over 3000 seed varieties on offer, Chiltern Seeds has plenty to post about and their detailed shots of blooms are simply incredible.

Louise Dowding - @louisedowding

Topiary is the highlight at Louise Dowding's magical garden in Somerset, but there are plenty more beautiful things to see too as the year progresses, from fields of cow parsley to self-seeding flowers in the vegetable patch.

Fishermans Bay Garden - @fishermansbay_garden

This New Zealand garden on the coast of the South Island offers a completely different perspective from the English gardens elsewhere on the list. Prioritising native plants and protected native bush, the garden showcases a variety of different designs, from traditional herbaceous borders to fern gardens and shady stream valleys.

Sarah Price - @sarahpricelandscapes

Sarah Price is an Abergavenny-based garden designer with her own wild and wonderful plot that she shares alongside projects she’s working on.

Arthur Parkinson - @arthurparkinson_

A rising star, Arthur is one-to-watch in the garden world. His Instagram is filled with flora and fauna, as well as regular updates on his chickens.

Butter Wakefield - @butterwakefield

London-based Butter trained at The English Gardening School and the London College of Garden Design, and also worked at Colefax and Fowler before she set up her business. Her own garden in west London, filled with colour, scent and topiary, is a showcase for her design.

Alexander Hoyle - @alexander.hoyle

Garden designer and plantsman Alexander’s feed is filled with potted flowers, traditional English gardens and classical, structured planting.

Monty Don - @themontydon

The loveable face of English gardening, Monty Don needs little introduction. His Herefordshire garden, Longmeadow, is well known to garden enthusiasts around the UK as the setting of BBC's Gardener's World, and its yearly cycles are well-documented on the broadcaster's feed.

Sarah Raven - @sarahravenperchhill

Gardener, writer and television presenter Sarah Raven runs a highly successful nursery from her home at Perch Hill in East Sussex, and shares joyful, colourful pictures from her own house and garden.

Kimberley Fleming - @marlston_farmgirl

Hailing from Chicago, flower grower Kimberley Fleming is now settled in the Berkshire countryside, where she turned part of her husband's farm into a flower field and now sells beautiful seasonal blooms. Get a behind the scenes glimpse of life on a flower farm through Kimberley's Instagram account.

James Alexander-Sinclair - @jamesasinclair

Having designed gardens for many years, James is chairman of the RHS Gardens Committee and a member of the RHS Council. ‘If I manage to create gardens that make people, plants and (most) wildlife happy, I’m doing my job properly,’ he says.

The Land Gardeners - @thelandgardeners

Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elsworthy work between London and Bridget’s home at Wardington Manor in Oxfordshire, growing a wealth of wonderful cut flowers and designing gardens with a focus on productivity.

Alistair W Baldwin Associates - @awbassociates

Working out of Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, Alistair shares photos of grand country house project and smaller city gardens, with an atmospheric attention to light and colour.

Will Smithson - @solegardener

Will is the head gardener at the beautiful estate of La Petraia in Chianti, Tuscany, and shares snippets of the garden and surrounding landscape as the seasons pass. See the garden covered in snow and at the height of summer - it's envy-inducing either way.

Jonny Bruce - @j.bruce.garden

Another graduate of Great Dixter, Jonny has worked on the gardens at Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, and currently works at organic nursery, De Hessenhof, in the Netherlands.

Lottie Delamain - @lottie_delamain

Lottie Delamain takes a practical approach to garden design, with remote consultancies and advice for city gardens as well as the usual hands on approach, and her feed collects the images that inspire her work.

Sean Pritchard - @sean_anthony_pritchard

With a heavenly house and garden in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, Sean’s colourful interiors are full of the fruits of his labours, including some of the most impressive dahlias we’ve seen outside of Charlie McCormick’s garden.

Becky Crowley - @beckycrowley_

An account to follow for utterly lovely flower photographs. Becky is usually the head of the cutting garden at Chatsworth in Derbyshire, and is spending this year at the dreamy Floret Farm in Washington.

Isabel Bannerman - @isabelbannerman

Isabel and her husband Julian have been creating magical, romantic gardens at some of the UK’s most beautiful country houses for nearly 40 years, including at Trematon Castle in Cornwall and the Prince of Wales’ house at Highgrove.

Miranda Brooks - @miranda.brooks.gardens

Brooklyn-based landscape designer Miranda Brooks, who also serves as a Contributing Editor at American Vogue, stands at an intersection between fashion and horticulture, and created Anna Wintour’s own garden in the Hamptons.

Great Dixter - @greatdixterofficial

The former home of writer and gardener Christopher Lloyd, the garden in East Sussex is now open to the public and serves as a training ground, under the leadership of Fergus Garrett, for new generations of talented gardeners.

Luciano Giubbilei - @lucianogiubbileigardens

Head of his own eponymous design studio, Luciano creates elegant, pared back gardens around the world, sharing dreamy, faded images of them on his beautiful Instagram feed.

James Horner - @ jameshornergarden

East Sussex based gardener James Horner trained at Great Dixter and with Luciano Giubbilei, and shares moodily lovely images of his own experimental walled garden as well as projects from around the UK.

Special Plants Nursery - @specialplantsnursery

This nursery near Bath, led by passionate gardener Derry Watkins, is one of the UK's best destinations for unusual plants. The Instagram account provides plenty of inspiration for varieties you might not have heard of before.

Lucie Willan - @luciewillan

Head gardener at the Mediterranean Garden Society's garden outside Athens, Sparoza, Lucie is the perfect person to follow for devotees of this sun-washed style and the native plants that characterise it.

Ann-Marie Powell - @ann_mariepowell

Landscape designer Ann-Marie Powell shares lively insights into the work of a top studio, as well as her travels around the garden world. With a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show coming up in 2024, she's one to watch for behind the scenes.