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Mount Congreve: The exquisite Irish garden on an unimaginable scaleEven superlatives are dwarfed by the scale and quality of the garden of Mount Congreve, in Co Waterford, Ireland. Charles Quest-Ritson traces its story. Photographs by Jonathan Hession.
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Pretty little things: How the double primrose continues to hold us in its thrallCharles Quest-Ritson looks into the history and the origins of these delightful flowers.
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'Ugly, pointless and potentially lethal': Why dead hedges are a gardening fad too farCharles Quest-Ritson takes aim at the phenomenon of the 'dead hedge'.
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The Italians think it's a laxative and the Germans say it leeches your bones, but rhubarb is a true British wonder. Here's how to do it justiceRhubarb is one of the easiest and most generous plants to grow. Charles Quest-Ritson digs into its history and recommends the best kinds; photographs by Jonathan Buckley.
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No garden should be without a winter-flowering daphne, so we've picked the bestThere is no such thing as a disappointing daphne, Charles Quest-Ritson
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'I was utterly bewitched': The heartwarming success story of one of Britain's greatest rose-growersCharles Quest-Ritson talks to Trevor White, whose Norfolk rose nursery is sought out by enthusiasts for the quality and variety of its stock. Photographs by Richard Bloom.
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Beautiful, rewarding, unpronounceable: Chaenomeles, the spectacular shrub that grows happily in gardens where azaleas will never bloomSo many new types of Japanese flowering quince are now available that they have been the subject of a four-year trial by the RHS. Charles Quest-Ritson picks his favourites; just don't ask him to say their names out loud.
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English country gardens once dotted the French Riviera. Now the last of them is about to slip away foreverCharles Quest-Ritson laments the final closure of the English Edwardian garden at Le Clos.
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Exclusive: The King's remarkable resurrection of the gardens and parkland at SandringhamThe King took over the running of the 21,000-acre Sandringham estate in 2017 — and in the last three years has transformed it beyond recognition.
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How Harper Beckham created the perfect gardener's birthday present for her father's 50th — with a little help from David Austin RosesWhen Harper Beckham wanted to commission a rose for her father’s birthday, there was only one man for the job, says Charles Quest-Ritson, as he takes a closer look at the science behind creating a new David Austin bloom.
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'You could walk round it every day and always notice something new': A private tour of the garden of multiple Chelsea gold medallist John MasseyInspired by his friends Christopher Lloyd and Princess Greta Sturdza, nurseryman and plant breeder John Massey has made a garden in Worcestershire that never ceases to delight, writes Charles Quest-Ritson. Photographs by Clive Nichols
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The arboretum that's been 30 years in the making by a dedicated, passionate family who are dreaming of what it could be in 3,000 years' timeKeen collectors sooner or later find their way to the outstanding trees and shrubs at Bluebell Arboretum in Derbyshire, writes Charles Quest-Ritson. It’s a wonderful sight at this time of year.
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The one website about trees and shrubs that everyone needs to know about'Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles' has been digitised, making one of gardening's most important works free and at your fingertips.
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Everything you could ever want to know about growing, eating and cooking plumsMirabelles, gages, plums, damsons — the best ones to buy, the ones to avoid, and how to use them. Charles Quest-Ritson has you covered.
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'Knowledge, energy, creativity and enthusiasm... He's a sensation': Meet the golden boy of English horticultureCharles Quest-Ritson meets the best of the next generation of gardeners tending to some of the nation's best gardens.
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'The best bulbs are those that give maximum pleasure for minimum effort — and these are the ones which will keep delivering for years'Now is the time to decide what bulbs to plant to make the most of next spring. Charles Quest-Ritson offers his advice.
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The best flower borders in Britain, and how they work their magicWe may have invented the flower border, but planting them remains one of the trickiest things to get right. Charles Quest-Ritson looks at the secrets behind the very best.
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The pinnacle of the English style of gardening, as fine today as it was a century agoCharles Quest-Ritson has just returned to Great Dixter for the first time in years — and it's 'the high point of all my garden visiting for a long time. I cannot recommend it too highly'.
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'No Yorkshire dale, no Scottish moor, no view from Westminster Bridge can match it': Charles Quest-Ritson on The Itchen Valley, his personal piece of heavenCharles Quest-Ritson lavishes praise on the Itchen Valley, a part of Britain that's so charming and unspoilt as to restore your faith in the world.
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Wakehurst: 500 years of history, 2.4 billion seeds, 500 acres of planting, and scientists who might just save us allCharles Quest-Ritson takes a look at the amazing work that's been done to update Wakehurst, Kew's trailblazing outpost in Sussex.
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Testing times: Inside the RHS's Trials Garden at RHS WisleyNothing is so useful to the gardener as the plant trials that are quietly run by the RHS and judged by a specialist panel that publishes free reports available to all, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson.
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'I'd willingly give a year of my life for a fortnight there': The green dream that is the garden of DerreenExotic woods, labyrinths of narrow, mossy paths and thousands of tree ferns make this an internationally important garden, writes Charles Quest-Ritson. Photographs by Jonathan Hession.
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Six of the best Clematis montanas that every garden needsClematis montana is easy to grow and look after, and is considered by some to be 'the most graceful and floriferous of all'.
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The man who trekked Bhutan, Mongolia, Japan, Tasmania and New Zealand to bring the world's greatest magnolias back to KentMagnolias don't get any more magnificent than the examples in the garden at White House Farm in Kent, home of Maurice Foster. Many of them were collected as seed in the wild — and they are only one aspect of his enthralling garden.
