May is the month when the gardening calendar springs to life and Gloucestershire is bursting with great green-fingered experts who know how to make the most of outdoor spaces.

There are a host of Gloucestershire garden designers and enthusiasts showcasing their creativity at RHS Malvern Spring Festival in early May. While later in the month a Gloucestershire-inspired garden will be a talking point at world-famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show with contributions from none other than King Charles III, bringing ideas from his Highgrove Garden in Tetbury, as well as Cotswold resident and gardening enthusiast David Beckham.

At RHS Malvern a new feature garden, designed by Cheltenham-based Martyn Wilson, will highlight the benefits of working with clay soil. RHS research has shown it accounts for around 25% of British soils.

Martyn’s garden promises to offer practical inspiration and advice. His tips include the best species of trees, shrubs and plants suited to planting in clay soils, as well as differing methods of working productively with the soil.

The show at Three Counties Showground, from Thursday 7^th to Sunday 10^th May 2026, will also feature two blooming borders designed by Gloucestershire gardening experts.

Finding Balance, by Megan Dodd who lives in Tetbury, is a border that aims to show how nature can be a support through life’s challenges.

Her gentle and calm border, with expressive planting, has been planned to show how taking time in the garden can give a chance to ‘pause, rest and reconnect with the restorative power of nature’.

It’s inspired by her mother’s journey of living with a rare, benign brain tumour that affects balance and hearing.

Gloucestershire County Council has got behind Forest of Dean resident Laura Ashton-Phillips to show how gardens can support people, plants and wildlife with a beautiful, biodiverse and sustainable border.

Laura’s repurposed sculptural tree stumps highlight the value of leaving dead wood to decompose to enrich habitats and encourage biodiversity.

Her border, filled with native British wildflowers and cottage‑style planting, has the environment in mind by using plants grown within an hour of the showground to reduce fuel miles.

After the show, the garden will be replanted at Hopebrook Primary School in Longhope, to give pupils wildlife-friendly habitats to enjoy.

Demelza Leng, from Cheltenham, is showing off her floristry skills in a new floral tablescaping category that styles the interior of a garden shed with flowers, foliage, and botanicals to showcase floristry as an art form.

As a former corporate event manager, trained in theatre and stage management at RADA, her display will put the season’s best centre stage, with early summer strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus sitting alongside edible flowers.

At RHS Chelsea Flower Show all eyes will be on The RHS and The King’s Foundation Curious Garden, designed by Frances Tophill.

Picture credit: RHS Oliver Dixon

Visitors to the show, from Tuesday 19^th to Saturday 23^rd May will be able to see a team effort of creative input from King Charles III, David Beckham and Alan Titchmarsh.

Key features include seven raised plant beds as a nod to David Beckham’s Manchester United and England National Team number 7 shirt, as well as some of his favourite plants with lots of fruit, flowers, vegetables and herbs on show.

There’ll be a focus on delphiniums, celebrating King Charles III’s love of the flower, and their prominence at his Highgrove gardens.

The RHS says the Chelsea garden aims to offer plenty of take-home ideas for people to grow more plants and create pockets of nature, from windowsills and pots on a terrace to a private garden space.

To gather more gardening and wildlife inspiration take a look at more features inside this month’s The Local Answer magazine.