The English Garden

Bringing the UK's most beautiful gardens to life.

The English Garden1 min read
Contributors
Matt is a Somerset-based head gardener and author. His articles appear in national and international publications and his book, The Ecological Gardener, is out now. He visits a Wiltshire mill on page 56. Naomi is a journalist and author specialising
The English Garden1 min read
Welcome
We thought we’d kick off the new year with style, and bring you a selection of gardens that have been designed by some of the country’s top designers. We visit Tom Stuart-Smith’s own garden, The Barn in Hertfordshire; a watery Wiltshire millside gard
The English Garden1 min readSocial Science
The English Garden
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People to Meet
The rose breeder and proprietor of Harkness Roses on the joys of creation and his pride in the company’s early move away from using chemicals The best aspect of my job is the moment when newly bred varieties begin to bloom. Every plant is unique, an
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Philip’s Favourite Gardens
This rose garden in the heart of Regent’s Park is beautifully maintained by the Royal Parks team and is a pleasure to be in. The garden features a good variety of roses too. Tel: 0300 0612300; royalparks.org.uk Beautiful undulating parkland surrou
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Out & About
Objects from the Bodleian’s collection are used to explore mental health therapies over the 400 years since the publication of Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy. The display shows how Burton’s book anticipated modern research into the impact of g
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Things to Do
Chilli peppers will benefit from an early start, so if you have a heated propagator, now’s the time to sow the seed of this spicy crop When you’re desperate for winter to end and willing spring to arrive, it can be so tempting to start seed sowing t
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Checklist
• Give apple and pear trees a winter prune. The aim is to remove about 10-20% of the tree’s oldest wood each winter. • Start the new year with a tidy greenhouse. Wash pots, clean the glass, scrub labels and sweep away debris so it’s ready for spring.
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Nature to Note
The first few months of the year are a busy time for our native green woodpeckers as they diligently begin to peck out holes from trees ready for their clutch of four to six eggs. This isn’t a particularly noisy process, since green woodpeckers have
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Shopping
Everything you need to start planning and get organised for the gardening year ahead Luxurious winter warmers and pick-me-ups to help you through the cold dark months ahead ALL PRICES ARE CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS. ■
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Personal GROWITH
Tom Stuart-Smith and his psychotherapist wife Sue, embodies a shared belief in the beneficial effects of gardens and gardening on mental health and wellbeing Tom Stuart-Smith is a giant in the realm of international landscape design. His work is alw
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Building on SUCCESS
What a difference water makes to a property. The garden at Holm House in Suffolk, already intriguing and productive, has been transformed by the addition of a lake complete with an island and wildlife-sympathetic plantings. It was 2015 when Rebecca a
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BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS at Holm House
This vigorous, moisture-loving native iris is the perfect choice for fringing such a large lake and grows in shallow water. Bold globes of violet-purple May-June flowers are held on sturdy stems. Grow with perennials to hide its fading leaves. Ruff
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Making Music
There’s an art to making a flower border in which select plants peak in unison, forming a dynamic ensemble composed of different hues, textures and forms. “I like to listen to classical music when planting a border – both are complex, multi-layered c
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The Show Must GO ON
More refined than Verbena bonariensis, V. hastata adds branched, candelabra-like stems of tiny pinkish-purple flowers. Alasdair uses this wonderful umbellifer with strong stems and delicate fern-like foliage in almost every border. Vivid magenta fl
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United Front
When Eleanor Jones and her partner Chris Legg were property hunting in 2013, they wanted either a property near the sea or one with an established garden. However, on sighting the magnificent Grade II* listed Urchfont Manor in all its faded glory, th
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Testing the WATER
A mid flooded meadows and marshy woods of black poplar and crack willow, sits a garden of the most unusual quality and disposition. Held in the arms of the River Avon as it snakes south-east through Wiltshire on its circular journey towards the Brist
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2021 In Review
In a time that brought relentless challenge to so many, the capacity of gardens and gardening to improve health and wellbeing came to the fore. In balconies, parks and private gardens, green spaces have seldom been more appreciated. In GP surgeries,
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Mountain Marvels
Tough, perennial, low-growing and often brightly coloured, most alpines originate from mountainous regions but can also be found on sea cliffs and even in woodland. Cliff Booker has been involved in the Alpine Garden Society (AGS) since 1984. A disti
The English Garden2 min read
Seasonal Pick-me-up
Packing a fragrant punch that belies the size of their tiny, inconspicuous flowers, these evergreen shrubs deliver an elegant look throughout the year. Also known as ‘sweet’, ‘winter’ or ‘Christmas’ box, sarcococca have small leathery leaves, and the
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How To Grow
These tough evergreen shrubs are tolerant of air pollution and – in shaded locations – neglectful watering. They prefer moist but well drained soil and full or part shade, but can tolerate full sun if the soil is kept reliably moist. Most grow to aro
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Sarcococca: Cultivars And Species For Glossy Foliage And Winter Scent
Willow-shaped glossy leaves with greenish-white flowers. ‘Dragon Gate’ A strongly scented newer variety, flowering in mid-December. ‘Purple Stem’ Red-and-white flowers grow on purple stems. Pure white blooms and a powerful fragrance.
The English Garden4 min read
Winter Greens
Not many perennials do their thing in the off-season, but as the rest of the garden heads off to bed for winter, arums burst forth. Their fresh, vibrantly green leaves are a familiar sight in hedgerows and woodlands but, despite their evident charms
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Success With Arums
Arums are adapted for growing under deciduous trees such as oak and beech, so pick a site with dappled light, enrich the soil with leafmould when planting, and mulch well. Joe says good woodland soil is ideal, but once arums are established, they are
The English Garden4 min read
Back to Basics
We need our winter gardens to be just as beautiful as summer gardens – and they can be. Wow-factor may be lacking in many gardens over winter, but never is it more appreciated than during these gloomy months. All too often cold weather, rain, lacklus
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Structure through SHAPE
Dense, upright and bushy with medium-sized glossy leaves, this holly looks like box, and can be clipped to shape. Naturally forming globe-shaped bushes of deep maroon-black glossy foliage. Coppice yearly for shooting firework-like fans of scarlet s
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Get Away from It All
Now that the world is gradually opening up again, opportunities for travel are burgeoning. If 2022 is the year you hope to book a memorable getaway, our guide to botanical holidays and garden tours could tempt you away from these shores. And if you’d
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Garden Geometry
Bold and sculptural evergreen plants set the foundations for the design of the garden. We like whippet-thin Cupressus sempervirens ‘Pyramidalis’ and Phillyrea latifolia, which has a naturally architectural form, not dissimilar to a crown of broccoli!
The English Garden1 min read
Good Resources
If you’re planning a tour of UK gardens and want somewhere special to stay, try Boutique Retreats’ range of luxury holiday cottages. Tel: 01872 553491; boutique-retreats.co.uk Contours will help you plan a self-guided walking holiday in the UK or Ire
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Raise Money While You Holiday
If you’re looking for a garden tour abroad but want a change from the usual destinations of France and Italy, head to Malmö in Sweden. In late May, horticultural charity Perennial is running a guided tour through southern Sweden that takes in three o
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The Reviewer
Gardeners, ever attuned to the weather, would probably agree that our four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter, are something of a blunt instrument when it comes to categorising the climatic year. Even that old idiom about the month of March –
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Q&A
How did you come to be at Bressingham? My father, Alan Bloom, was born in 1906 and in 1946 he eventually moved into the nursery business that my grandfather had started – in 2026 we’ll mark its 100th anniversary. I was born in 1940 and I wasn’t real
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GARDENS & NURSERIES FOR WINTER INSPIRATION
Sienna Hosta are Chelsea gold medal winning specialist hosta growers with more than 1400 varieties for sale. A fast mail order service is provided with excellent plants. Sienna Hosta also exhibits at many flower shows across the country where you can
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A Feast For The Senses
It’s five o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon in late February. Pale winter sunshine lingers over the unassuming front garden of my son’s singing teacher. As I open the gate I am swept away by an intoxicating lemony perfume. Dreamlike snatches of a clea

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