When Natalie and Mike Newman first saw their house, they were attracted by the neglected garden almost more than the house itself. It was probably laid out in Victorian or Edwardian times. At one side, massive overgrown conifers crowded into each other around a side lawn. Then there was a…
Many of the most successful garden designs link indoor and outdoor space by using colour, materials and even furniture to create a seamless transition. Sometimes it’s called ‘blurring the boundaries’ between house and garden. I spoke to two people with very different garden styles, but who both successfully connect their…
Here is an early summer gardening checklist, followed by suggestions on how you can make this as easy as possible. Weed paths and borders There is no doubt that more weeding early in the year means less weeding later on. Weeding is at the heart of your early summer gardening.…
Here are key autumn garden tips plus 7 top suggestions of plants to plant now. You may be tempted to stop gardening in autumn, but if you do, you’ll be missing a trick. Because now is the best time to plant most perennials. So here is a selection of plants…
Are you looking at plants in your garden and wondering why they aren’t flowering? I am. And I’ve discovered a surprising reason why my cosmos plants don’t even have any buds on them. So to get to the bottom of what stops garden plants from flowering, I asked local flower…
You can group pots to create a complete ‘garden border.’ Or you can drop pots into a border to fill a gap or add colour. If you garden in a rented garden or a very small space, you can achieve the colour and impact of a herbaceous border with a…
You don’t have to do all the late winter gardening jobs on the gardening ‘to do’ lists. Some may not be relevant to your particular garden or gardening style. I believe that successful, happy gardening is ultimately about working out the best approach for you. Whether you choose to do…
A cottage garden mashup means taking the elements of English cottage garden style and mixing it with your own local plants to create a garden that’s unique to you. I first heard the term from Bill Bampton of the Diggers Club, who used it to describe their Heronswood garden He…
I first really saw prunella as a herbaceous border plant in my sister-in-law’s garden in Australia. It isn’t a show stopper. But I consider it amongst the top perennials because it is charming and easy. It flowers for months at a time, either in sun or quite shady spots. It’s…
A winter container garden display can give the garden such a lift. You can enjoy winter pots in the front garden every time you come home. And just a few pots near the house in the back garden can give your back garden focus and structure at a time when…
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