Alan Titchmarsh: The most spectacular flowers of spring are easy, guaranteed to flower — and now is the time to plant them
Alan Titchmarsh doesn't like tulips. He loves them.
Alan Titchmarsh is one of Britain's best-loved gardeners, writers and television presenters. He started his gardening career at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew before moving into gardening journalism in the 1970s, and has been a regular fixture in print, on our screens and on the airwaves ever since.
Alan is a regular contributor to the gardening section of Country Life, writing a monthly article covering everything from his favourite plants to details about the gardens at his homes in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight.
You can find many of his columns below, and to get you started here are some links to some of his most popular pieces.
Alan Titchmarsh doesn't like tulips. He loves them.
Unless you're lucky enough to have a garden with medium loam soil, chances are that there are plants which you'll always struggle — but you're not alone, says Alan Titchmarsh.
It's been 10 years in the making, but Alan Titchmarsh's wildflower meadow is now full of life, colour and needs next to no maintenance.
Great garden designers 'have a plant vocabulary that runs into hundreds or even thousands' says Alan — and that's at the heart of Russell Page's genius.
If you've been enviously eyeing the extraordinary wisteria on display across Britain this summer and wondering how you can grow your own, help is at hand. Alan Titchmarsh shares his advice for growing this most glorious of horticultural spectacles.
Our columnist Alan Titchmarsh is a supporter — and a vice-president — of the RHS. But he worries that the horticulture is in danger of going missing from the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show.
Alan Titchmarsh admits that the plants that give him most pleasure aren't always the ones he's intended to grow.
Alan Titchmarsh considers the new monarch’s extraordinary contribution to British gardening, which is always underpinned by organic methods and a strong belief in husbandry and stewardship.
The phrase 'Spring is a new beginning’ may be a touch trite for today’s tastes, says Alan Titchmarsh, but it is 'a phrase that invades my mind each and every March'.
As the gardening takes a back seat and the sofa and the fire beckon, Alan recommends some of his favourite books to while away the long winter nights.
Alan Titchmarsh's father wasn't much of a gardener — but further back in his family tree were many green-fingered forbears, and he still uses many of their tools despite them being over a century old.
It's the time of year to plant tulips if you want an explosion of colour next Spring. Alan Titchmarsh picks out some of his favourite tulip varieties which go well beyond the usual suspects.
Alan Titchmarsh explores the garden of Birkhall, The Prince of Wales's Scottish home on the Balmoral estate.
In gardening, there are no shortcuts says Alan Titchmarsh: you only get out what you put in.
Alan Titchmarsh doesn't like soggy socks, but there are plants that love standing around in the damp all day.
I'm not an obsessive, pleads Alan Titchmarsh, but just an enthusiast — and he tells us which plants he's most 'enthusiastic' about over the course of a year.
The gardener, writer and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh shares his favourite flowers for early in the season — including one with a simply unbeatable fragrance.