Titchmarsh: Going on holiday in August is bonkers, Britain's blooming gardens blow the Med away

By CLAIRE DUFFIN, SENIOR REPORTER Published: 12:26, 16 July 2026 | Updated: 12:29, 16 July 2026 It's the time of year families jet off abroad on holiday.  But we should abandon overseas vacations and enjoy our own gardens at home in August instead, Alan Titchmarsh has said.  The TV horticulturist said flowers in the UK in August 'can give the Med a run for its money' and anyone who 'shuns the bright lights of Torremolinos and the Costa del Sol' during the school holidays will reap botanical rewards from their decision to stay home. He told BBC Gardeners' World magazine: 'It's amazing how many gardeners write off August'. Titchmarsh said even though the 'generous flush of flowers and foliage that typifies May and June' might have passed there is 'much pleasure to be had in staying at home and admiring those plants and flowers that are more measured in their growth rate, and which repay the patient gardener who shuns the bright lights of Torremolinos and the Costa del Sol during the school hols.' Alan Titchmarsh, 77, said anyone who shuns the bright lights of Torremolinos and the Costa del Sol' during the school holidays will reap botanical rewards from their decision to stay home. He said an English garden in summer (pictured) could 'give the Med a run for its money' 'After all, some of the best flowers of August can give the Med a run for its money when it comes to brilliance. Dahlias are a case in point,' he said.  'You don't get them rushing to display their wares in June; heavens no! 'They know that by waiting until the summer proper arrives they will bring their unsubtle brilliance to any garden that can offer them sunshine and beefy soil.' He added: 'So if, thanks to the ups and downs of life, you find that a fortnight away this summer is out of the question, nip down to your local nursery or garden centre, and add to your beds and borders a few flowers that give of their best when the early blooms have faded. 'Your spirits will rise and your bank balance will not sink by very much. Happy summer!' Other flowers that bloom in August include coneflower (echinacea); rose campions (Lychnis coronaria) and cape fuchsias (Phygelius).  Last year, Titchmarsh, 77, revealed he had downsized from his £4 million home in Hampshire because he worried he would not be able to look after the sprawling four-acre plot in the countryside.  He had tended to the garden at his home in Holybourne, near Alton, Hants, for 23 years, but moved to a new property with a plot that is one and a half acres large. Titchmarsh and his wife put their home on the market in September last year for £3.95 million. The couple bought the Grade-II listed Georgian manor in 2002. The stunning property dates back to 1690 and Titchmarsh had carried out significant renovations.