I finally made it to the Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Somerset on a glorious early autumn day – a perfect time to see garden designer Piet Oudolf...
29th September 2017 • Places to Visit • Read More »
After an amazing summer, autumn seems determined to compete. A group of garden journalists, ...
9th October 2018 • Read More »
Back when I was a young stripling, I worked at Ingwersen’s Alpine Nursery (sadly no longer) whic...
26th March 2014 • Read More »
It’s some years since I last visited the garden festival at Chaumont and my goodness it has upped ...
9th August 2015 • Read More »It’s decades since I last visited the Huntingdon Gardens and my memory of them was quite haz...
22nd February 2019 • Read More »After an amazing summer, autumn seems determined to compete. A group of garden journalists, ...
9th October 2018 • Read More »If you harbour doubts about the usefulness of asters in the garden, can I recommend a visit to W...
26th September 2018 • Read More »My own garden seems somewhat lacking in colour at the moment and what colour there is, is fairly...
10th September 2018 • Read More »It’s always a treat to visit the gardens of Parham House near Pulborough in West Sussex – if you...
17th July 2018 • Read More »It’s three years since I last visited Hyde Hall and my goodness, what a transformation. A clus...
21st June 2018 • Read More »Ok, not in the conventional sense, I actually love the colour pink, but it’s a description of ...
20th June 2018 • Read More »Rosemary Verey was one of the 20th century’s most influential garden designers and - had she live...
5th June 2018 • Read More »Plants are so opportunistic – give a plant a crevice and it will thrive in the most inhospitable c...
1st June 2018 • Read More »I wish I had a retentive mind for the names of orchids – some do stay with me, but many do not, so...
26th May 2018 • Read More »I did have the opportunity to see four shrubs that do grow in my garden in their native habitats –...
25th May 2018 • Read More »Whether it was steeply sloping meadows of Orlaya grandiflora, the brilliant blues of Salvia pratensi...
24th May 2018 • Read More »High or low, there was always something to learn about favoured habitats - from the dropworts and su...
22nd May 2018 • Read More »Whatever the habitat we were in, it was the diversity that was so exciting. With little human interv...
20th May 2018 • Read More »We have just returned from a week revelling in the abundance of wild flowers, birds and butterfl...
18th May 2018 • Read More »It is always a treat to go to one of Sarah Raven’s Open Days at Perch Hill, near Brightling in Eas...
9th May 2018 • Read More »I’m quite good at visiting far-flung castles, but for some reason those much closer to home are of...
30th March 2018 • Read More »Just occasionally we do take a holiday that doesn’t have plants as the main focus and December...
15th December 2017 • Read More »No mists and mellow fruitfulness in southern Spain – instead there was cloudless blue skies and te...
17th October 2017 • Read More »I finally made it to the Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Somerset on a glorious early autumn day –...
29th September 2017 • Read More »The advantage of returning to Rome for a second time is that we had ticked off all the main sigh...
22nd May 2017 • Read More »It is always astonishing to see the hostile conditions that apparently make ideal homes for seemingl...
29th April 2017 • Read More »We spent the final couple of days of our visit to Cyprus in the Troodos Mountains where snow was sti...
27th April 2017 • Read More »Colourful beehives were much in evidence whenever we walked in the countryside, but we were warned t...
25th April 2017 • Read More »Aside from the citrus, we were too early to enjoy most of the fruit grown on Cyprus, although I did ...
24th April 2017 • Read More »Not all our time was spent crawling round on our hands, or scrabbling through the undergrowth – so...
21st April 2017 • Read More »Our botanist, Yannis Christophides, was endlessly patient as we kept asking him to identify ...
18th April 2017 • Read More »Visiting somewhere new to learn about the local flora and fauna is an enriching experience – e...
15th April 2017 • Read More »We escaped the chill weather for a week to see the wildflowers of southern Cyprus with travel ...
10th April 2017 • Read More »On our way back from New Zealand we spent a couple of nights in Singapore - for the second time in t...
5th January 2017 • Read More »I suppose that given that we were not far from Middle Earth - or so the map indicated - I should...
30th December 2016 • Read More »As someone who has always struggled to keep lupins alive, what with woolly aphids, rot - and plants ...
29th December 2016 • Read More »Botanically, New Zealand is an extraordinary country. Because it drifted off from the rest of the wo...
23rd December 2016 • Read More »I’m sure regular readers of my blog must think that I spend half my life at Great Dixter, but if ...
6th October 2016 • Read More »If you need a colour fix before autumn-proper kicks in, there’s no better place to go than Great D...
28th September 2016 • Read More »Last weekend a friend invited a group of us to celebrate a landmark birthday at the former weekend h...
23rd July 2016 • Read More »It was our local allotment association’s annual day out – and for the fourth time in five years�...
15th July 2016 • Read More »Well when you have one of the world’s great gardens nearby, it’s pretty irresistible. The team a...
13th July 2016 • Read More »The June issue of Gardens Illustrated has a feature (written by me as it happens) about this impress...
11th July 2016 • Read More »I’ve become a regular visitor to this nursery for lots of reasons: A good range of really intere...
7th July 2016 • Read More »About ten years ago I visited the ruins of Easton garden near Grantham in Lincolnshire. Easton has a...
27th June 2016 • Read More »I do love seeing plants growing in their natural habitat, especially when they grow nowhere else. I...
19th June 2016 • Read More »An unexpected delight on our recent visit to the Abruzzo National Park was that our stay coincided w...
16th June 2016 • Read More »I am never happier than when I’m amongst flowers growing in their natural habitat - especially whe...
10th June 2016 • Read More »When it comes to plant supports, Sarah Raven really has it sorted. I visited Perch Hill last weeke...
28th April 2016 • Read More »Visiting a famous garden is not just (generally) a delightful experience – it can also be a master...
15th April 2016 • Read More »I have been in horticultural heaven this week with plenty of gardening at home, the visit to Sissi...
8th April 2016 • Read More »There’s much to be gained by visiting famous gardens early in the season before they get too busy....
6th April 2016 • Read More »On a grey, damp February day I went to see the wonderful exhibition at The Royal Academy ‘Painti...
14th February 2016 • Read More »Sometimes when I go to a far flung event I’m a bit like one of those gymkhana ponies that comes t...
14th November 2015 • Read More »As someone with a bit of an obsession about plants and gardening, I do love looking at botanical det...
10th November 2015 • Read More »Having successfully crammed my possessions into half of my suitcase for the trip home, I spent a ver...
7th November 2015 • Read More »There are few places that surpass one’s expectations, but Venice is definitely one of them and a ...
5th November 2015 • Read More »It’s often the case (for me anyway) that gardens that are quite nearby get overlooked – I th...
25th September 2015 • Read More »I’m sure that Logan is still lovely on an overcast day (of which Scotland has a few) but it was at...
31st August 2015 • Read More »There’s a lovely little ferry that takes just 5 minutes to cross from the northern tip of Bute to ...
29th August 2015 • Read More »The sunken fernery has had a chequered history since its heyday in the 19th century when it was an...
26th August 2015 • Read More »The last time I visited Mount Stuart was shortly after the estimable James Alexander Sinclair had de...
24th August 2015 • Read More »It’s a few years since I last visited Bute and despite the 35-minute ferry crossing being eye-wi...
22nd August 2015 • Read More »Another glorious day in Scotland - and another wonderful garden. The annual flower mixes clea...
20th August 2015 • Read More »I first read about this event in Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book when she wrote that ‘The great ev...
10th August 2015 • Read More »It’s some years since I last visited the garden festival at Chaumont and my goodness it has upped ...
9th August 2015 • Read More »I’m not quite sure who decides these things, but Montresor was certainly very lovely. Given this a...
7th August 2015 • Read More »I’ve been on my travels again – this time to the Loire Valley - a place that is dear to my heart...
29th July 2015 • Read More »Seventeen years ago a pair of BBC reporters, Bella and David Gordon, gave up their London life a...
29th July 2015 • Read More »It’s worth rising early in Chinon to walk through quiet streets and really absorb the atmosphere o...
29th July 2015 • Read More »One of the ironies of Berchigranges is that there are so many wonderful places to sit down and enjoy...
14th July 2015 • Read More »This is a particularly good year for tulips, so I took a detour on the way home from Woolbeding t...
23rd April 2015 • Read More »Making a garden tricky to visit is the horticul...
20th April 2015 • Read More »Word has it that the wonderful magnolias at Borde Hill Garden, near Haywards Heath are at their mag...
21st March 2015 • Read More »This Friday (20th March) I will be joining herb expert Jekka McVicar and garden designer Lucy Summe...
16th March 2015 • Read More »Why anyone would visit a garden in the winter is a bit of a mystery to the non-enthusiast, but for t...
24th February 2015 • Read More »One of the highlights of the visit to Singapore was our visit to the Gardens by the Bay. I read a lo...
17th November 2014 • Read More »We had the great good fortune to spend a morning on a guided walk in the National Parks coastal fore...
5th November 2014 • Read More »We paid a brief visit to the botanic garden in central Melbourne which is much more traditional in ...
4th November 2014 • Read More »It’s not until you are in Australia that you appreciate how ever-present the danger of fire is in ...
3rd November 2014 • Read More »As a bit of a snake-phobic, my introduction to the part of the Melbourne Botanic Garden which is si...
20th October 2014 • Read More »As we pootled around the Botanic Garden in Nigel Taylor’s buggy admiring our surroundings we spott...
18th October 2014 • Read More »Given the crowded nature of Singapore it is wonderfully green with ribbons of trees and shrubs weavi...
17th October 2014 • Read More »We spent an entire morning at the Botanic Garden which includes the Orchid Garden within it. We had ...
15th October 2014 • Read More »En route to Australia we spent two nights in Singapore. It is an extraordinary place and left and ...
14th October 2014 • Read More »Gardening Team of Stephen Brockhurst, Head Gardener Kevin Martin at the piano, Dawn Aldridge & G...
11th August 2014 • Read More »During my recent visit to the island of Oland I stayed in a characterful guesthouse called Bo Pensi...
26th July 2014 • Read More »If you find yourself in East Sussex on July 15th, this beautiful garden will be open in aid of St Mi...
3rd July 2014 • Read More »The Garden Museum’s second annual festival of garden literature in the private gardens of Petworth...
25th June 2014 • Read More »Isn’t it wonderful when you go back somewhere and it is as good, or even better than you remember?...
10th June 2014 • Read More »The Chelsea Physic Garden is looking glorious right now and visiting on a day of cloudless sunshine ...
19th April 2014 • Read More »Back when I was a young stripling, I worked at Ingwersen’s Alpine Nursery (sadly no longer) whic...
26th March 2014 • Read More »Evolution Plants near Bradford on Avon is holding a special open day on the 10th of May when the pub...
23rd March 2014 • Read More »On our recent trip to Spain we stayed in a wonderful place deep in the countryside, but little more ...
19th October 2013 • Read More »Throughout the gardens of the Palaces and the Generalife, there are wonderful architectural details ...
14th October 2013 • Read More »I've finally been to the Alhambra and it did not disappoint (except for the crowds). It is a place ...
12th October 2013 • Read More »It just so happens that both Sissinghurst and Great Dixter are within half an hour’s drive of home...
3rd October 2013 • Read More »On a perfect summer’s day, a colleague and I spent a morning with Mark Divall, the charming and ...
26th August 2013 • Read More »We’ve just returned from four wonderful days in the depths of the Welsh countryside inland from Ab...
25th July 2013 • Read More »I’ve nearly visited Derry’s garden and nursery several times and this week I finally made it. ...
20th July 2013 • Read More »We visited some wonderful villages and towns in Counties Kerry & Cork, but my favourite was Kins...
6th July 2013 • Read More »Bantry Bay House and the surrounding gardens must have been breath taking in their heyday, but even ...
5th July 2013 • Read More »If you want evidence of what the ‘soft’ Irish climate does for plant growth look no further than...
3rd July 2013 • Read More »I defy anyone not to pause when confronted with these signs!...
1st July 2013 • Read More »The island garden of Ilnacullin, designed by Harold Peto has been on my visit wish list for a very...
29th June 2013 • Read More »In Ireland I was struck by the ubiquity of non-native plants in the Irish countryside. It took me a ...
27th June 2013 • Read More »We were slightly late for most of the spring flowers, but there was still some loveliness to be seen...
25th June 2013 • Read More »I’ve just returned from my first ever visit to Ireland where I loved the landscape but in general ...
24th June 2013 • Read More »Our allotment had its annual outing to Wisley this week and it proved to be a very mixed bag. There ...
18th June 2013 • Read More »Tucked away in a Kentish village, this rather wonderful garden is crammed with sophisticated decorat...
14th June 2013 • Read More »I’ve never previously visited Loseley Park near Guildford and now know how remiss it is of me not ...
7th June 2013 • Read More »Rather bizarrely I’ve visited two gardens within a week, both of which are surrounded by farmland ...
6th June 2013 • Read More »‘The Golden Hour’ is an exhibition by Andrea Jones - one of our most talented garden photograp...
30th April 2013 • Read More »In September I went to Hadlow College and saw Japanese Horseradish (Wasabi) plants in their trial gr...
16th October 2012 • Read More »RHS Hyde Hall has recently held a plant fair which was a pleasure to visit. It was more on the scal...
24th August 2012 • Read More »I loved my day at the Olympics and the high point was undoubtedly the planting - I’m not sure Syn...
7th August 2012 • Read More »Nick Bailey, the head gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden, is the moving force behind the new are...
19th July 2012 • Read More »I never grow delphiniums – it’s just too depressing seeing the slugs and snails munch them to ...
18th July 2012 • Read More »One of our companions on the trip to the Picos was an extremely fit and eagle-eyed man in his 80s...
13th July 2012 • Read More »Of all the alpine plants that really must be seen in their natural habitat, the gentian is...
11th July 2012 • Read More »No, I haven’t made it up, this is the unlikely name for a bright yellow mountain wallflower Erys...
10th July 2012 • Read More »Many carnivorous plants look quite sinister, but this certainly isn’t true of the large-flowered...
9th July 2012 • Read More »When you’ve walked a mile or two up a limestone gorge to see a ‘very special plant’, you are...
8th July 2012 • Read More »Instead of spending a large fortune on a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, Jo Malone Ltd has fun...
8th July 2012 • Read More »Well it surprised me anyway. The lovely blue thistle Eryngium bourgatii grows prolifically in gr...
3rd July 2012 • Read More »While we read books on the subject, remove topsoil and sow yellow rattle to reduce fertility and...
1st July 2012 • Read More »I don’t know whether it’s because I’m high on the altitude, invigorated by the exercise, or b...
29th June 2012 • Read More »Most years we try and go on a walking holiday looking at flowers and birds with Naturetrek. This ye...
27th June 2012 • Read More »Horniman Gardens TodayThe Horniman Museum gardens in Forest Hill, South London have had a major re...
31st May 2012 • Read More »The Paris flower market on the Ile de la Cite made me nostalgic for the days when Covent Garden Flo...
24th December 2011 • Read More »I’ve just returned from an overnight visit to Paris. I walked past Notre Dame and took this phot...
23rd December 2011 • Read More »Like everywhere else, French taste has its highs and lows, especially in rural areas. I was charmed...
12th December 2011 • Read More »At this time of year you can take a return trip on Le Shuttle for the day or overnight for a mere ...
10th December 2011 • Read More »For the second year running this fair snuck up on me, but at least this time I knew before rather ...
6th November 2011 • Read More »Standing on the rocky shore and watching whales just 30m away was one of the highlights of the tri...
31st October 2011 • Read More »It is impossible to visit South Africa without being aware of the vast chasm between the richest a...
29th October 2011 • Read More »Grootbos Nature Reserve, about an hour’s drive east of Cape Town is a wonderful combinat...
27th October 2011 • Read More »We saw this magnificent fan aloe at the Harold Porter Botanic Garden just east of Cape Town. With ...
25th October 2011 • Read More »The most impressive garden that we visited in the Western Cape was Babylonstoren near Franschoek. ...
23rd October 2011 • Read More »On our way up the West Coast in South Africa we passed through a small town called Darling where...
19th October 2011 • Read More »I just love the way this palm tree is hung with weaver birds nests. They are very sociable and a...
15th October 2011 • Read More »This is one of the places in the Western Cape where it is hard to know where to look next – ...
13th October 2011 • Read More »I’m still working my way through my wildflower photos from the Western Cape attempting to identi...
11th October 2011 • Read More »We were sitting enjoying our lunch in the restaurant at Grootbos Nature Reserve near Cape Town, whe...
1st October 2011 • Read More »Even with my South African flora in my hand I am little the wiser in the face of such glorious abund...
17th September 2011 • Read More »...
15th September 2011 • Read More »The diversity of the Cape's flora is something I've known about theoretically for a long time but no...
15th September 2011 • Read More »Muggins managed to leave her Cape Flora behind in England, so until I get a chance to pick one up ...
14th September 2011 • Read More »I was in Dorset recently and on the lookout for gardens to visit. I had seen some photographs of...
11th September 2011 • Read More »If you find yourself in the Bristol area then give yourself a treat by visiting this garden outs...
29th August 2011 • Read More »Apparently this use of allium heads has puzzled lots of the visitors to the flower garden at Arund...
3rd August 2011 • Read More »Within the walled garden at Arundel and adjoining the Collector Earl’s Garden is the Organic Flo...
2nd August 2011 • Read More »Andrew & I had a day out in Arundel and visited the new Collector Earl’s Garden in the Cas...
31st July 2011 • Read More »We spent a day at Wisley last week and in the model vegetable garden I noticed that they were plan...
4th July 2011 • Read More »Last weekend I visited the annual opening of the private gardens behind some of the 17...
2nd July 2011 • Read More »Sorry about this, I’ve been at the Google Translate again. We spent five days in M...
18th June 2011 • Read More »Anyone considering spending a few days in Rouen couldn’t do better than to stay at Clos de Jouve...
16th June 2011 • Read More »This is a garden that has been on my list of places to visit for a while now. About half an hour n...
14th June 2011 • Read More »According to Google Translate that means ‘our first honeymoon’. We went to Normandy for a lo...
12th June 2011 • Read More »Just to clarify, it’s rock plants, not rock music. Following on from my enthusiastic postings ...
29th April 2011 • Read More »West Green House at Hartley Wintney in Hampshire is a hugely entertaining garden that is always ev...
27th April 2011 • Read More »In the winter months why not visit the National Botanic Garden of Wales. Even if the weather is a ...
25th January 2011 • Read More »The Welsh Botanic Garden often holds Craft & Food Fairs among the plants in the Great Glassho...
10th December 2010 • Read More »Gravetye Manor has a long and illustrious history, but as far as gardeners are concerned it is the...
19th October 2010 • Read More »This is a garden that changed the way the French approach gardening. Previously the focus had be...
2nd October 2010 • Read More »A fast-moving but shallow stream divides the garden at La Malposte in two, with the garden on the ...
1st October 2010 • Read More »Chateau de Brecy is owned by Monsieur Didier Wirth and his wife Barbara. It is immensely stylish an...
30th September 2010 • Read More »Jerome Goutier is a garden journalist with a passion for unusual plants. The topography of his gar...
29th September 2010 • Read More »I do love a mad garden – and this is certainly one of glorious eccentricity and ground-breaking ...
28th September 2010 • Read More »Florence d’Harcourt is a brave woman. She took on the family chateau and its grounds when her thre...
27th September 2010 • Read More »We’ve just returned from a long weekend in Normandy visiting a selection of fine gardens courtesy ...
26th September 2010 • Read More »The Rain Garden at the London Wetland Centre was officially opened on Wednesday by Alan Titchmarsh. ...
17th September 2010 • Read More »The Walled Garden at Cowdray Park is a contemporary interpretation of an Elizabethan pleasure garden...
16th September 2010 • Read More »I drove over to Parham House in West Sussex to meet up with a friend and also to see what is happeni...
14th September 2010 • Read More »The 25 acres of gardens at Newby Hall near Ripon in North Yorkshire are on a grand scale with ...
19th August 2010 • Read More »The National Trust has just unveiled its latest holiday cottage – the Priest’s House at Sissingh...
5th August 2010 • Read More »We’ve just been to a fund raising evening at Great Dixter in aid of a local charity. The gar...
2nd August 2010 • Read More »French Gardens Today run top notch garden tours in Normandy and Brittany. The impressive gardens...
28th July 2010 • Read More »If a timeless landscape, mountains and pure air with abundant flowers and wildlife appeal to you t...
22nd July 2010 • Read More »We did manage a bit of sight seeing too. The exterior of Vlad the Impaler’s Castle at Bran wa...
21st July 2010 • Read More »While my focus was inevitably on plants, we saw some wonderful birds, insects and butterflies. ...
20th July 2010 • Read More »Since Ceausescu’s demise the Orthodox Church has emerged from hiding (it never went away) and ...
6th July 2010 • Read More »We had two evenings when we went to hides to watch bears. Both involved long drives up remote ...
5th July 2010 • Read More »It was the height of haymaking last week and nowhere in the mountains did we see any sign of mec...
3rd July 2010 • Read More »The verges were as enticing as the meadows with shady and sunny habitats providing a wonderful d...
2nd July 2010 • Read More »Although we travelled near and far during our week in Transylvania and I enjoyed every minute, ...
1st July 2010 • Read More »Set among meadows, our guesthouse, which had only opened last year, was spotless and comfortable w...
30th June 2010 • Read More »We stayed in the village of Magura where houses are perched along the crest of a hill either side o...
29th June 2010 • Read More »The weight of their history makes the gardens of Hatfield House impressive at any time of year, bu...
14th June 2010 • Read More »Switzerland and Bedfordshire are not natural bedfellows but in the early 19th century, when an inter...
20th May 2010 • Read More »We went on one of our favourite walks at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve last weekend. In a month’s ti...
6th May 2010 • Read More »I’ve had a friend from America staying with us which gave me the perfect excuse to take a bit of ...
4th May 2010 • Read More »In early May The Lost Gardens of Heligan usually put on a display of its National Collection of pr...
27th April 2010 • Read More »Last week Andrew and I visited a favourite garden on the outskirts of Hastings. Friary Gardeners, of...
19th April 2010 • Read More »Fans of Channel 4s Country House Rescue will recognise the name from the very first of Ruth Watson...
15th April 2010 • Read More »In late April the Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales is bursting with bloom ...
13th April 2010 • Read More »Coton Manor Garden near Guilsborough in Northamptonshire is usually open daily between 11am-4pm on...
25th February 2010 • Read More »International landscape designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd opened her remarkable gardens at Gresgarth Hal...
9th February 2010 • Read More »Hillier Gardens at Ampfield, near Romsey in Hampshire. During the frosty (or snowy) days of Januar...
29th January 2010 • Read More »Wrap up warm and visit the Winter Garden at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire where a path winds it...
15th January 2010 • Read More »If the Winter Walk is a bit too chilly for your taste, look out for an event in the Wisley Glassho...
11th January 2010 • Read More »There’s no better time to visit Bedgebury Pinetum at Goudhurst in Kent than when snow is on the gr...
20th December 2009 • Read More »Christmas 2009 saw the RHS garden at Wisley in a magical new light. Spectacular light installations ...
19th December 2009 • Read More »Visit the National Botanic Garden of Wales and there won’t be any need to worry that the weather w...
23rd November 2009 • Read More »Painshill Park at Cobham in Surrey This beautifully restored landscape park is a wonderful mixtur...
10th November 2009 • Read More »Yesterday I interviewed the wonderfully enthusiastic holder of the National Clematis Montana Collect...
26th October 2009 • Read More »Take a walk round the Walled Garden at Scampston. Piet Oudolf designed this magnificent contemporar...
19th October 2009 • Read More »Lured away from my desk earlier this week by a beautiful golden afternoon that was far too nice to b...
5th October 2009 • Read More »We’ve just returned from a short visit to Mull (note to self: stay longer next time - it’s a ver...
20th September 2009 • Read More »Although they are now saying (again) that the barbecue summer is on its way, the odd hot day remains...
13th August 2009 • Read More »Wollerton Old Hall garden in Shropshire* is a beautiful blend of inspired planting, immaculate topia...
26th July 2009 • Read More »York Gate is a one-acre garden tucked away behind the ancient church in Adel, on the northern outski...
23rd July 2009 • Read More »
