Photo: johnmuk / Flickr

From blogs to books to TV shows, there’s a whole lot gardening fans have to look forward to this year. Find out the top names you should be keeping an eye on, who you should call in to design your garden, and which hot new plant you should be ordering now. We’ve rounded up the best of British gardening in 2011. Enjoy.

Read this

Whatever you do, don’t miss out on Lia Leendertz’s blog, Midnight Brambling. Winner of the Garden Media Guild’s Blog of the Year award, it’s both insightful and amusing.

If you prefer not to do your reading on a screen, order a copy of Gardening in a Changing Climate by Ambra Edwards now. It’ll be out next month and it’ll tell you everything you need to know about water shortages, drought and heat. Rather than being preachy or dry, it’s an inspirational and handy look at gardening with the environment in mind.

Watch this

Next time you’re on Youtube take a look at Three Men Want to Mow. It’s a silly series featuring garden designers Cleve West, Joe Swift and James Alexander-Sinclair who decided to record themselves ‘messing around in gardens’. The result is hilarious.

On the box you can expect more of the usual from the BBC, including extensive coverage of the RHS show. It’s well worth noting that Monty Don will be returning to Gardeners’ World on 11 March, though. The series will come from his own garden, which has seldom made it to TV, this time around.

Order this

We’ll see plenty of new plants introduced to the UK this year, but the Iris ‘Cranberry Sauce’ is a definite highlight. It has scented claret blooms and flowers that last for ages. You’ll be able to order it starting April.

The up-and-coming

According to Garden Design Journal and House & Garden, Jo Thompson is going to be very big in 2011. The Kent designer who was once a drama teacher started designing gardens in 2005 and won a gold medal at Chelsea just five years later.

Also keep a look out for Mark Bianco. He runs the only climate change farm in Britain and is steadily making his way into TV and newspapers. As River Cottage’s head gardener, he’s destined for great things.

Tags: gardening