Gardener’s World Live 2025 – bats are back

Wouter has an interest in garden design and has watched many Gardeners World episodes. Filled with original design ideas and a passion for wildlife, he was eager to be part of this year’s show.

His inspiration for the border was his evening dog walks in his local park. 

He says ‘Plants are more difficult to identify in the evening, and it is mainly the outline of the leaves or the overall shape of plants that can be distinguished as opposed to their colour. Therefore, this border is meant to replicate a night garden during the day.’. 

The white flowers scattered around the border represent the stars, the white-greenish Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Irene Patterson’ represents the moon and the gravel path the Milky Way.  

This border is aptly called ‘The Milky Way’ – you can find more about it here. 

Small gardens can make a big impact on wildlife as they create a network of highways that allow bats, birds and other animals to move around. 

The garden is located outside, in the ‘Beautiful Borders’ section, which is designed to give visitors ideas for small spaces. We hope you come and visit our stand and learn more about gardening for bats! You can find us outside, near Picnic Hill, border BB20. 

Wouter often sees bats flying around in the park during his dog walks, so it felt natural to partner with the Bat Conservation Trust and raise awareness of these mysterious mammals.   

The border is designed for people as much as wildlife. It is a mini peaceful garden which can be a space for studying the stars, watching bats or to enjoy home grown vegetables/herbs (we’ll have lettuce and basil for example). 

It is also a garden for wildlife with the beech hedge, the dead tree, a water feature and spring flowers, which will attract lots of insects (aka bat food!).

For more ideas on how to make your garden more bat-friendly visit this page.

Bats are often overlooked by gardeners but as their natural habitats become scarcer, our gardens are playing an increasingly important role in securing a future for bats. 

All UK bats feed on insects and other invertebrates with a small common pipistrelle being able to eat up thousands of insects in one night! In addition bats are a great indicator of a green and healthy environment, so creating a garden that's good for bats will also be good for the environment which we all rely on.

Wouter’s support for bat conservation and our work goes one step further - he decided to donate his garden border to raise money for the conservation of the only flying mammals we have in the UK.

At the end of the show, we will be accepting donations for the majority of the content of this beautiful border. Items must be collected on-site from Sunday  (we’ll accept cash and card donations) and they include:

• Prunus cerasifera nigra, black cherry plum tree
• Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace', common elder 10L pot (might have grown a bit since purchase)
• Penstemon 'Onyx and Pearls', beardtongue x9.
• Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Irene Patterson', kohuhu
• Uncinia rubra, red hook sedge x16. 
• Dianthus barbatus 'Sooty', sweet William x7
• Physocarpus opulifolius 'Midnight', ninebark x2
• Raised bed. Dimensions: 150cm X 53cm X 30.5cm. Preserved via Shou Sugi Ban, a traditional Japanese wood charring technique. 
• Round brick raised bed. Outer diameter 48cm. Inner diameter 36cm.
• Black basalt gravel. Six bags of 20kg.
• Garden chair and plant stand.
• Sandstone water feature. 30cm, solar powered
• Lawn edging. Galvanised flexible steel 100mm pack 5 X 1075mm
• Pre-formed pond. 4.5L capacity made of high density polyethylene. Dimensions: 82cm x 59cm x 27cm
• Black paving bricks. Approximately 1 square meter. 
• Hollow dense concrete block 4x. Please note one the holes will most likely contain some concrete/mortar, as it was used to secure a tree. 

Photos can be provided upon request by emailing comms@bats.org.uk. 

We look forward to joining Wouter and his beautiful border! We hope to see you there too. Remember we’re outside in the ‘Beautiful Borders’ section, near Picnic Hill, border BB20. 

To book tickets for Gardeners World Live 2025 visit this page.