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How to create spectacular arrangements for your Christmas table
Candles, crabapples and a Champagne bucket are all your need to transform your Christmas table, says Amy Merrick. Just don't mention cut flowers.
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The greatest flowers make the greatest art
A search for still-life subjects led Kate Friend to some of the greatest gardens and gardeners in the country
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There are a billion microbes in a teaspoon of soil. Leaving the leaves to Nature feeds and nourishes them
Leaf blowers aren't just futile and polluting — they're actively bad for the health of your garden, not to mention your mental wellbeing. Time to reach for the rake, says Isabel Bannerman.
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Country Life's luxury editor's Christmas gift ideas for the home and garden
Our luxury editor's round up of the best Christmas presents for house and garden proud mothers, fathers, siblings, partners and friends.
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What trees taught me about perfect planting — Alan Titchmarsh
Sense and patience is key to growing healthy trees, as a certain Mr Mackenzie showed a young Alan Titchmarsh
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When it comes to making the perfect garden tool, the past has all the answers
Mary Keen visits Garden & Wood, the mecca for dedicated gardeners who prefer using tools made in the 1940s
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Exclusive: The King's remarkable resurrection of the gardens and parkland at Sandringham
The 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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'A dream of Nirvana... almost too good to be true': The sweet peas of Easton Walled Gardens, and how you can replicate their success at home
Ursula Cholmeley, who has spent 25 years restoring Easton Walled Gardens, recommends sowing sweet peas now for stronger plants that will better withstand the weather.
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The trees that are as fine to eat as they are to look at
Mark Diacono doesn't grow many trees for the sake of the bounty they provide — but these are the notable exceptions.
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Bothered by brambles and snagged by sow thistles, but what is the point of all this thorny microaggression?
Nature’s spiky deterrents — thorns, spines and prickles — may be quick to catch us out, but they can also prove to be a useful ally.
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The Tuscan gardens where the English and Italian traditions come together, and Yorkshire rhubarb grows happily beside spectacular citrus
Nick Dakin-Elliot, who gardens in Tuscany, is still moved by the Italian hilltop gardens that command some of the most beautiful views in the world.
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'My family wore wool at a time when everyone else had cast it off in favour of manmade fabrics': The knitwear pioneer who is one of David Beckham's countryside champions
Julie Harding speaks to Rachel Carvell-Spedding the founder of British knitwear brand Navygrey, and one of David Beckham's countryside champions.
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James Alexander-Sinclair: Making a new garden for someone is 'thrilling', but we need more sensitive and skilled gardeners to look after them
Pay your gardeners properly, says James Alexander-Sinclair as, without them, you will have no garden.
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'Seeing the work that people are doing all around the world has given me hope for the future': The young naturalist who is one of David Beckham's countryside champions
Julie Harding speaks to Ramandeep Nijjar, a young naturalist who has made an impact on the world even before finishing university, and one of David Beckham's countryside champions.
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Poppy Okotcha, the model turned gardener who is one of David Beckham's countryside champions
Poppy Okotcha, the 29-year-old ecological community grower, garden content creator, author — and also one of David Beckham's countryside champions — speaks to Julie Harding.
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'I bought it without telling Victoria. She didn’t want another project... I sat her down, gave her a vodka and tonic and told her what I’d done': David Beckham tells Alan Titchmarsh about his Cotswolds home and garden
On an open and windswept tract of land in Oxfordshire, where once stood some derelict barns and a lone maple tree, our guest editor Sir David Beckham has created a haven for his family and his honeybees. Photographs by Clive Nichols and Millie Pilkington.
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'One of the truly great gardens of the world' is at risk of having its vistas and tranquility blighted forever
The views from Rousham, the birthplace of the English landscape-garden movement, are at risk of development if plans for the nearby former RAF Upper Heyford Air Force base get the go-ahead.
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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 Massey
Inspired 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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Alan Titchmarsh: 15 years ago we planted a hedge — today, it's 10ft tall, 6ft deep and a joy throughout the year. Here's how we did it
15 years ago, Alan Titchmarsh planted a hedge; today, it's 10ft tall, 6ft deep, he and his wife absolutely love it, 'and so do all the creatures with whom we share our garden.'
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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' time
Keen 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.
