The English Garden

Inspiration for February

● The prettiest PRIMROSES ● HEDGELAYING with Paul Lamb ● The year-round GREENHOUSE ● TOP 10 plants for texture

Welcome

If you stand right up against the wall of an old walled garden so you can look down its length, you’ll often be able to spot hundreds of rusted metal nails and vine eyes poking out of the brickwork that are barely visible when you look at the wall...

Welcome

Topiary looks especially smart in winter when its sharp lines and artful shapes are picked out by frost. I am filled with admiration for anyone who has mastered this particular dark art of gardening – neither fiddly pruning nor patience are my strong...

Ideas for November

LIQUIDAMBAR for small gardens ● Alex Pole’s handmade TOOLS ● Vibrant leaves at WEST LODGE ● ● Stylish outdoor STORAGE

Welcome

Two things have struck me while we’ve been working on this issue. The first, which I admit is not overly practical or realistic, is how much I’d like a wavy lawn (see our feature about the garden at Corsley House on page 32). The other, much more...

Welcome

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about fantasy versus reality recently, as I’ve watched my garden slowly desiccating over weeks without rain, becoming so dry and crisp that I haven’t even dared light the barbecue for fear of setting the entire street...

Welcome

In my mid-teens there was nothing I wanted more than a hi-fi on which to play what were, at the time, newfangled CDs. I saved my pocket money and did odd jobs to boost the co ers, and I even had a chart I coloured in to track my piggy bank’s slow...

Welcome

Iwrite this having recently returned from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which, as it tends to do most years, has induced feelings of inferiority in me. It’s always the way after seeing the show gardens with their perfect planting. I get home and view my...

Welcome

When I was a child we usually took our holidays in Cornwall and I remember being dragged around lots of gardens while we were away. I was less fond of gardening in those days, and mostly interested in the sticks of rock or tins of sweets that usually...

Welcome

Imagine moving into a new house, only to realise its garden, or what’s left of it after years of neglect and overgrowth, was designed by Gertrude Jekyll. When Rosamund Wallinger moved to The Manor House in Upton Grey and discovered just that, she set...

Welcome

This month’s instalment of Jane Moore’s diary, with its timely reminders and tips, struck several chords. First, the validation of finding out I’m not alone in my passion for a good session with a half-moon edger. I know we are supposed to resist being...

THE BEST WAYS TO PROTECT PLANTS IN SPRING

Welcome

Gardening, especially when you take on a new plot, can feel like an archaeological dig. The things you unearth as you clear and plant provide clues to its past and its former owners. Shards of blue pottery are common for many; in my garden it’s...

The NATION’S

Meet our competition winners

Welcome

Summer’s weather feels like a lottery these days: will we have a repeat of 2022 with those scorching temperatures and months without a drop of rain, or will this summer be like last year’s – a dull, grey washout? We should probably issue an advance...