With the sell-out Chelsea Flower Show happening next month (May 24 to 28) alongside 'Capability Brown's 300th birthday celebrations, garden centres around the country are expecting a bumper Bank Holiday. But England by no means has a monopoly of horticultural icons.

Whilst skilled enthusiasts are happily filling their cars with trailing plants, those with fewer green fingers may feel the need to go further afield for inspiration. Tailor-made itineraries arranged by The Ultimate Travel Company cover many of the world's most beautiful gardens.

FRANCE
The Normandy village Giverny was famously the home of painter Claude Monet. His garden, where he created his water lily series, is filled not only with water lilies but poppies, lupins, delphiniums and peonies, as well as graceful pale green bridges framed by wisteria and weeping willows. Why not consider combining a visit to Giverny with a trip to Paris and a visit to the Orangerie in the Tuileries Gardens home to his elliptical murals 'Les Nympheas'.

SOUTH AFRICA
The Garden Route is a misleading name. The N2 fast highway is no more a scenic treasure than the M40. And there's not a garden to be seen. But take any of the side roads and you'll see what the fuss is all about.

Turn off the highway at the Storms River signpost and you'll pass through the Tsitsikamma forest. The National Park has more species of tree than the whole of the northern hemisphere, broken by meadowy interludes of native fynbos, a carpeting of scrub and wild flowers which botanists classify as one of the earth's seven floral kingdoms.

AUSTRALIA
For six months of the year, from June in the north until November in the south, Western Australia comes alive in a blaze of colour and fragrant scents. More than 12,000 species of wildflowers carpet the state, the world's largest collection, with more than half found nowhere else on the planet. In just one National Park, the Stirling Range near Albany, there are more plant species than the entire UK. In September Perth also showcases almost 2,000 varieties at the Kings Park Wildflower Festival, right in the heart of the city.

JAPAN
Whilst its springtime cherry blossoms are Japan's biggest seasonal attraction, the country also has many fine gardens. The most spiritual is undoubtedly the small, exquisitely simple ancient Zen rock garden at the Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, consisting of finely raked gravel and a scatter of moss covered boulders. You can also easily travel to Kanazawa by Bullet Train and visit arguably the second most famous, Kenroku-en, created by feudal lords, complete with a pond, bridge, tea house, pagoda and classic stone lantern.

MOROCCO
The Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech, created over a 40-year period by French painter and plant collector Jacques Majorelle, stands in the heart of the city. Later bought and restored by French couturier Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge, the gardens are a beautiful oasis in the high heat of summer bursting with pink bougainvillea, lotus flowers and blush-coloured water lilies. Visitors can stroll along shady lanes, past cool streams and pools strewn with lilies and lotus flowers, admiring the kaleidoscopic colours and listening to birdsong.

COSTA RICA
The La Paz Waterfall Gardens to the north of San Jose contain just about everything you expect from Costa Rica: lush tropical rain forest, spectacular waterfalls, birds, butterflies and flowers. This attraction is themed around magnificent waterfalls which can be accessed by trails and viewing platforms. There is also a butterfly observatory, the largest in the world, where you can walk amidst the free soaring butterflies, and a hummingbird garden that attracts 24 different species.

ITALY
Gardens beside the Italian lakes of Maggiore and Como, protected to the north by the Alps, enjoy a micro climate which has allowed the cultivation of exotic trees and shrubs from all over the world. Ranging in style from Renaissance and Baroque Italian to 18th century French and romantic English landscaping, several are featured on an Escorted Tour from May 9 to 13 with guest lecturer Sir Roy Strong.

MEXICO
When millionaire Edward James swapped England for Mexico in 1944 he spent a chunk of his fortune on 100 acres of tropical rainforest and tens of thousands of orchids on his Las Pozas estate to the north of Mexico City. After twenty years of careful cultivation the orchids perished in a freak snowstorm to be replaced by a display of weather resistant sculptures. Inspired by the exotic trees and plants in the nearby jungle, this surreal garden is easily included as an extension to our self-drive Colonial Mexico itinerary.

For more details of any of these destinations, contact The Ultimate Travel Company (phone: 020 7386 4646; email: Annabel Ford annabel@theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk).