Gardeners' World Winter Specials - Season 1

In the first of three special programmes, Monty and the team celebrate the joy that the gardening year brings with a selection of brand new stories.

Adam Frost finds a world of inspirational planting designed to shine in winter when he visits Cambridge University Botanic Garden; Joe Swift heads to a garden in north London that was inspired by a holiday to the Grand Canyon; Nick Bailey extols the virtues of evergreen planting, which come into its own at this time of year; and Kate Bradbury shows us how we can look after the wildlife in our garden over the winter months.

We catch up with the three sisters from Dorset we met last year, who share the joyful highs and occasional lows of their gardening year; we head to Somerset to see how a garden designer achieves not one but two glorious peaks in her own garden; and we get tips on growing perfect peonies from a passionate plantswoman in the Welsh borders.

There's also a chance to see what viewers have been getting up to in their own gardens.

Adam Frost and the team celebrate the joy that the gardening year brings with a selection of brand new stories.

Nick Bailey visits the winter garden at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Hampshire; Frances Tophill discovers the largest cultivated collection of Mediterranean plants in the great glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales; and Carol Klein immerses herself in the exuberance of high summer at Kelmarsh Hall Gardens in Northamptonshire.

Meanwhile, Arit Anderson meets a couple in the Pennines who have created a garden on the most challenging of plots, and Rachel de Thame shines a light on a plant that dazzles in the depths of winter – witch hazel.

We visit an artist in County Wicklow, Ireland, who curates his garden like a living canvas, and we meet a passionate gardener in Wiltshire who has taken her love of tulips to a whole new level.

There is also a chance to see what viewers have been getting up to in their own gardens.

Monty celebrates the joy that the gardening year brings with a selection of brand-new stories, and the team get into the Christmas spirit.

At Longmeadow, Monty creates a winter interest container filled with seasonal favourites. Rachel de Thame is joined by florist Arthur Parkinson as they spend a festive day making Christmas decorations with plant material sourced from the garden; Carol Klein meets comedian Joe Lycett at his home in Birmingham and talks to him about his newfound love of gardening; and Adam Frost looks at the ground cover plants which are the perfect backdrop to the border at this time of year.

Advolly Richmond heads to Cumbria and uncovers the fascinating history behind the topiary gardens at Levens Hall, while Sue Kent digs out her Christmas jumper and prepares for the big day as she creates some festive gardening gifts.

We visit a nursery in Yorkshire who specialise in growing one of the most popular houseplants at Christmas – the poinsettia - and we also find out what viewers have been getting up to in their gardens.