Meet the Gardeners’ World TV presenters

Monty Don has been the lead presenter of BBC Two’s Gardeners’ World since 2003 and is one of the best-known faces of British gardening. Since 2011, he has presented the programme from his own garden, Longmeadow in Herefordshire, where he lives with his wife Sarah, and a succession of dogs who also rose to fame with supporting roles on screen. Monty has travelled the world for a range of other primetime BBC programmes in countries including Spain, America, Italy, Japan, and of course, Britain. A prolific writer, Monty has published numerous books and writes regularly for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine. He believes in the value of communities of all kinds, working together through an understanding and love of the land, and supports several good causes along these lines. Monty is a committed organic gardener and was President of the Soil Association for 10 years. He was awarded the OBE in 2018.

Adam Frost

Adam Frost is an award-winning garden designer whose association with Gardeners’ World began away from the camera, when the programme came from presenter Geoff Hamilton’s gardens at Barnsdale. After a horticultural apprenticeship in Devon in the 1980s, Adam began working at Barnsdale to help create many of the 38 show gardens which can still be visited and viewed there today. He set up his own landscape design business and since 2007 has won seven gold medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Adam joined the Gardeners’ World presenting team in 2016 and is passionate about inspiring people of all ages to create and enjoy their gardens. In 2014, Adam set up The Homebase Garden Academy with the aim of helping Britain’s next generation of horticulture students kickstart their careers. Adam is also a writer and speaker, an RHS Ambassador and sits on the board for the Horticulture Trades Association.

Frances Tophill

Frances Tophill joined the Gardeners’ World presenting team in 2016 and is a practical gardener, speaker and writer. While studying horticulture at the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, Frances gained a wide variety of practical experience in gardens at home and abroad, including Monet’s Garden in France. She is passionate about conservation and sustainability, spending time planting native trees with organisations in Edinburgh and Devon, and is patron of Thanet Urban Forest in Kent, the county where she was born. She is keen to encourage young people to get into gardening and works with the Royal Horticultural Society’s Campaign for School Gardening. Away from the camera, Frances is Head Gardener and Grower at the Sharpham Trust in Devon. She has written several books including A Year in a Small Garden, centred on the creation of her own plot in Devon.

Arit Anderson

Arit Anderson is a garden designer who came to horticulture after a 25-year career in the fashion industry. After taking on her own garden and discovering its creative possibilities, she pursued her passion for plants and enrolled in a horticultural course at Capel Manor in Hertfordshire, not far from where she was born and now lives. Her first award came during the course itself, winning a ‘Fresh Talent’ award at Chelsea in 2013, followed three years later by a gold medal at Hampton Court. Arit started presenting on Gardeners’ World in 2017. She is keen to use the platform of TV to promote issues close to her heart, particularly reducing plastic use, biodiversity, climate change, and the benefits of gardening and the natural world for mental health. Arit was awarded an RHS Veitch Memorial Award in 2025 for her outstanding contribution to science and horticulture.

Carol Klein

Carol Klein is a lifelong plant lover and gardener who joined the Gardeners’ World team in 2005, having originally trained as a fine artist and worked as a teacher. She and her husband Neil moved into Glebe Cottage in North Devon in 1978, and worked for years to create the garden there, also setting up a commercial nursery, Glebe Cottage Plants. Carol’s very first appearance on BBC Gardeners’ World was in 1989 when presenter Geoff Hamilton visited her garden. She began exhibiting at Royal Horticultural Society shows in 1990, has won gold medals at Hampton Court, Westminster and Malvern, and six medals at Chelsea. Nowadays at Chelsea, Carol is in front of the camera, talking about plants with her characteristic enthusiasm. She has written a number of books and writes for newspapers and gardening magazines. In 2018 she was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Nick Bailey

Nick Bailey is a freelance horticulturist, speaker, author and garden designer, who joined the Gardener’s World team in 2016. Nick studied horticulture at Hadlow College in Kent and gained a 1st class degree with honours in Landscape Design from Greenwich University. He has worked across many sectors of horticulture including garden design, teaching, nursery stock production, writing, and speaking. His garden design and management work has taken him to many countries worldwide including South Africa, Spain, and Australia, though to many he is best known for his seven years at the renowned Chelsea Physic Garden in London, widening the plant collection and redesigning the garden, His books include The Chelsea Physic Garden – a Companion Guide and 365 Days of Colour. Nick writes for a range of gardening publications including Gardeners’ World Magazine and lectures to gardening groups and societies in the UK and overseas.

Toby Buckland

Toby Buckland took the helm at BBC Gardeners’ World from autumn 2008 until the end of 2010, after Monty suffered a minor stroke. Toby is a hands-on gardener known for his creative but practical approach to gardening and during that time filming moved to a new site, Greenacre, where he showed viewers how to create a range of gardens including a wildlife friendly garden from scratch and on a budget. He started his horticultural career as a nurseryman and gardener before studying at Hadlow College, Kent and later working at The University of Cambridge Botanic Garden. Toby lives in Devon where, when not working as garden consultant to a local estate, he writes for a range of publications and presents a weekly show on BBC Radio Devon. He also gives garden talks around the UK and abroad. Toby is Festival Director of Toby’s Garden Fest which takes place in Devon each spring.

Rachel de Thame

Rachel de Thame is a long-established presenter on Gardeners’ World, having joined the programme in 1999, and for many years has been a regular presenter for the BBC coverage of Royal Horticultural Society flower shows, including Chelsea. Her career initially began in dance, film and acting, before studying garden design at the English Gardening School. As well as being a designer, Rachel is a speaker, radio broadcaster, and writer. She is the author of three books, the most recent being A Flower Garden for Pollinators, and writes for a range of magazines and newspapers. Rachel supports several gardening and conservation initiatives – she is vice president of the charity Plantlife, an ambassador for the National Gardens Scheme, and a keen supporter of the organisation Flowers from the Farm, which promotes UK grown cut flowers. A passionate gardener, Rachel recently moved to the Cotswolds and is restoring and replanting the garden of their old manor house.

Joe Swift

Joe Swift is one of the UK’s best known garden designers who has been a presenter and designer on Gardeners' World since 1998, also presenting from many of the RHS flower shows and a range of other TV programmes. After leaving school in 1983, Joe studied garden design at the Chelsea Physic Garden and set up his own design and landscaping business in 1990. He is currently Design Director of Modular, which creates gardens for private and commercial clients. As well as being a familiar face on our screens, Joe writes extensively for a range of publications including The Times, The Independent, and of course Gardeners’ World Magazine, and is the author of several books, as well as being a regular speaker. He supports many causes, including the Harrington Scheme and is patron of the Horniman Museum and Gardens. Joe lives and gardens in London.

Sue Kent

Sue Kent has appeared as a presenter on the show since 2020, demonstrating her ability to garden using her feet and toes where others would use their hands. Born with a condition known as phocomelia, caused by the drug Thalidomide, which means her arms are just 20cm long with no thumbs, Sue helps her audience gain a greater understanding of how they can unlock their own abilities through design and plant choices. She has gardened in Wales for over 30 years and shares her advice and enthusiasm on TV and as a speaker to gardening clubs and at garden shows. Sue is the author of Garden Notes, which is a combination of practical gardening tips and a garden logbook. Sue is an RHS Ambassador championing the inclusion of the disabled community and was given a Woman of the Year award in 2024.

Advolly Richmond

Advolly Richmond is a plants and gardens historian, TV and radio presenter, lecturer and independent researcher in social history, who grew up in rural Zimbabwe and now lives in Shropshire. She holds an MA in Garden History from the University of Bristol. Advolly lectures on garden history subjects from the 16th to 20th centuries and contributes garden history features on BBC Gardener’s World, which she joined in 2019, as well as presenting plant history profiles for BBC Radio 4’s Gardener’s Question Time. She is the author of A Short History of Flowers: The stories that make our Gardens. Advolly is a Royal Botanic Garden Kew Champion, a Fellow of the Linnean Society, and an Ambassador for Village Water. As well as promoting plants and garden history, Advolly likes to encourage people to value their garden and landscape heritage, as part of fully understanding all aspects of plants and gardening.