AMATEUR photographers and garden enthusiasts visiting open gardens in Worcestershire are being given the chance to capture nature at its best and vie for the top spot in an annual competition.

The National Garden Scheme (NGS) is running its second annual photography contest in association with BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine and is inviting visitors to any of its open garden events from mid March through to Tuesday August 28 to take pictures and submit them.

And the winner can expect to get a helping hand in their own garden courtesy of the first prize – a lawn mower, leaf blower, hedge trimmer and grass trimmer worth just under £1,000.

There are six categories: Town Gardens showing a beautiful garden in an urban setting; Design Details - capturing beautiful garden features, which aren’t just about plants; BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine: Fantastic Flowers - photos of individual plants, plant combinations or whole borders; Beautiful Garden Views - showing a wide shot of a garden and how it relates to the landscape in which it sits; Garden Wildlife – showing garden wildlife at work – bees, butterflies, birds and more; and People in Gardens - photos that show a garden in action with visitors enjoying the space.

The entries will be judged by NGS chief executive George Plumtre, editor of BBC Gardeners’ World magazine Lucy Hall and a professional photographer.

The winner of each category will receive £100 to spend on the current Wolf-Garten range and the overall photo winner will receive the top prize of Wolf-Garten bundle of equipment valued at £950. The picture selected as winner of the Fantastic Flowers category will be included in the Gardeners’ World Calendar 2019.

George Plumptre, CEO of National Garden Scheme, said: “For the National Garden Scheme’s first photography competition in 2017 we received over 1,000 entries and we are sure this year’s competition will create even more interest and excitement - particularly with such excellent prizes from our sponsors WOLF-Garten.

“There are countless photographic opportunities in the beautiful gardens that open for charity as part of the National Garden Scheme and this competition celebrates the glorious sights to be seen when visiting a garden throughout spring and summer.”

The deadline for entries is midnight on August 28 2018 and entrants can enter more than one category but cannot enter a single image into more than one category.

To enter visit ngs.org.uk/photo – and tag National Garden Scheme on any social media posts using #ngscomp18.