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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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300 years old, 40ft tall, 30ft wide: The world’s largest yew hedge has just received its annual trimAugust is hedge-trimming season on the Bathurst Estate, in Cirencester.
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The curious incident of the vanishing glasshouses: Country Life's photographs are all that remains of these awe-inspiring structuresThe ‘winter garden’ and the ‘terraced grounds of exquisite beauty’ were two of Cherkley Court’s featured attractions. They were advertised for sale in Country Life in 1910 — and then they vanished.
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Eat up your daylilies: The underappreciated east Asian flower that's a marvel in the kitchenMark Diacono was at first suspicious of cutting the stem of a gorgeous red daylily, until he realised how delicious they are.
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'Knoll offers a masterclass in the adaptability of grass': The Dorset garden that went from tourist attraction to specialist nurseryTilly Ware visits Knoll Gardens in Dorset, which offers a masterclass in grasses and how to make your garden stay beautiful for longer.
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'Each one is like a coral reef in an agricultural desert': One man's mission to rewild the swimming poolAt a fraction of the cost of a traditional pool, David Pagan Butler’s pioneering organic alternative has a global fanbase and he’s on a mission to share his knowledge.
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The grass isn’t always greener on the other side: Five alternatives to lawn, from fleshy sedums to aromatic thymeNo Mow May and similar initiatives want to inspire gardeners to replace their lawns with pollinator-friendly alternatives — but knowing where to start and what to do is an off-putting minefield.
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What everyone's talking about this week: It's time to follow in the footsteps of King’s College, Cambridge, and kiss the lawnmower goodbyeWeek in, week out, Will Hosie rounds up the hottest topics on everyone's lips, in London and beyond.
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'Other people would have given up and turfed half of it over': The couple who turned 'the ugliest house with the nicest view' into a Somerset treasureWith many viewpoints and changes of level, Grove Ley in Somerton, Somerset — home of Dr and Mrs Michael Horder — was not an easy site on which to make a garden. But key to its success, writes Caroline Donald, has been enlarging the pond and creating long beds full of robust perennials and grasses. Photographs by Britt Willoughby Dyer.
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Isabel Bannerman: Gardens fade in the heat of high-summer, but it's still possible to plant pockets of joy in shaded spacesThis is traditionally the time of powdery daisies caked in sun, but our writer craves a 'spritz' more likely found among shade-loving plants in damp-holding places.
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Plant once, enjoy for decades: Alan Titchmarsh on the wonder that is the agapanthusAgapanthus has a special place in Alan Titchmarsh's heart.
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'I blitzed it. Nothing survived. If you have one bit of surviving bindweed, you will have it forever’: A peek in to the ruthless world of the gravel gardenSince they appeared in the 1990s, gravel gardens have grown in popularity, especially in recent years. What are the keys for success? Non Morris asks some of Britain's top experts in the field, from the brutal work needed to get started through to the plants that only work 'if you get rid of soil entirely'.
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Why a love of gardening will get us all in the endWhen it comes to gardening, resistance is futile — especially if you're British — so it's best to give into it and get on with it.
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A lush, 'tropical' garden in Devon where bananas and ginger grow happily alongside the staples of an English country gardenSteep inclines and rocky outcrops are nothing to the owners of this coastal garden, which is filled with plants-many from the southern hemisphere-that thrive in such conditions, finds Caroline Donald.
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25 design books that will transform your ideas, as recommended by Britain's leading interior and garden designersGiles Kime spoke to some of the best designers and gardeners to get their recommendations on the books that constantly prove a source of inspiration in their work.
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Five British gardens have a starring role on the New York Times's list of 25 must-see gardens — here are the ones they forgotMultiple British gardens have topped a New York Times list.
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Don't judge a plant by its smell: Why 'the little stinkers of the natural world' are just doing their jobReminiscent of love and with an unmistakable odour of death, the little stinkers of the natural world might incite repulsion, but they are only doing their job, pleads Ian Morton
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‘This isn't just silver — it's a story of a man who fell in love with a woman who society deemed unworthy': The large silver sculpture of rutting stags that scandalised Victorian societyGeorge Harry Grey, the 7th Earl of Stamford, was shunned when he married a circus performer. This sculpture was his way of showing the world that he was a fighter — and it's now been acquired by the National Trust.
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Alan Titchmarsh: My garden is as pretty as I've ever known it, thanks to an idea I've rediscovered after 50 yearsThinking about an article he wrote almost half a century ago prompted Alan Titchmarsh to get sowing — and he's now reaping summer loveliness.
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The Hollywood garden designers who turned their hand to a magical corner of SomersetCaisson House's fifteen abandoned locks were part of the draw for Amanda and Phil Honey, who have created this astonishing garden in the grounds of the former headquarters of the Somersetshire Coal Canal Company just outside Bath. Caroline Donald discovers more; photography by Jason Ingram.
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Chatsworth's winning £4 million Lottery ticket means it can restore beloved water featureThe Chatsworth House Trust will use the money from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to restore their Cascade — beloved by Alan Titchmarsh.
