Alan Titchmarsh: The weeds I welcome with open arms
Our columnist Alan Titchmarsh used to spend hours ridding his garden of anything he hadn't planted himself. These days he sees things differently — and even welcomes their arrival.
Expert Gardening Tips
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Papaver cambricum, aka Welsh poppy – welcome it when it grows. Credit: Alamy -
Freshly harvested Madeleine Angevine grapes glinting in the sun are a site to warm the soul. Even more so if you've grown them yourself. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo The simple guide to growing your own grapes
If you pick the right variety and get the conditions spot on, you'll be eating your own grapes under the shade of your own vine in three years, says Mark Diacono.
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Heart leaf bergenia (Bergenia cordifolia 'Nebellicht'). Credit: Alamy Stock Photo Mark Griffiths: Why gardening is vastly richer, wider and deeper than in Gertrude Jekyll’s day
Gertrude Jekyll loved bergenais, but she'd be the first to agree that the variety around today far outshines what was available to her as Mark Griffiths explains.
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Credit: Getty Images The common garden plants that are deadly to dogs and cats – and what to do if they eat one
Many beautiful and common plants in the average English garden can prove fatal to household pets. Peter Green, a veterinary surgeon, gives his advice on some of the most common things to look out for.
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Credit: Alamy Stock Photo Alan Titchmarsh: The 1950 gardening trick which will bring you truly spectacular garden borders
Alan Titchmarsh revisits one of the books which first sparked his love of gardening – and shares one of the finest tips found therein.
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Credit: Alamy Stock Photo Plastic-free gardening: Five ways to help keep your garden free from pointless plastic
It's not just food, clothes and household stores which use an absurd amount of plastic packaging these days – gardening gear is also full of it, from plant pots to tools.
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Credit: Alamy Cultivating mint: What varietals to plant, where to plant them and whether they should be used for jelly or juleps
Mark Diacono explains why mint is for even the incurably incompetent horticultural enthusiast.
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Tree Canopy Walkway, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa, with Table Mountain in background. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo Alan Titchmarsh: Why Kirstenbosch is the gardener’s garden
Alan Titchmarsh waxes lyrical about one of the world's truly magnificent gardens.
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Wisteria on a house wall in the village of Broadway in the Cotswolds. Credit: Alamy Alan Titchmarsh: A foolproof guide to growing wisteria
Alan Titchmarsh gives advice for growing this most glorious of horticultural spectacles.
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Tulips in a country house garden. Credit: ©Val Corbett/Country Life How to grow tulips, by the gardener who creates the incomparable display at Parham Park
Parham Park’s head gardener Tom Brown shares his tips on how to grow tulips.
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Red-girdled Mining-bee (Andrena labiata) adult male in a dandelion flower. Powys, Wales. April. How to attract bees to your garden
Dave Goulson, Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Sussex and founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, explains how to attract bees to your garden.
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Credit: Moment Editorial/Getty Alan Titchmarsh: Why I've decided that life's too short to keep growing the same old things in my greenhouse
Alan Titchmarsh's greenhouse has become a bit predictable – but he's now got big plans to mix things up.
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Credit: Alamy Stock Photo Jason Goodwin: How legginess, though desirable on humans, is the devil in seedlings
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Credit: Alamy The best daffodils and narcissi to grow your garden, whether in pots, grass or borders
With more than 26,000 to choose from, it can be agonising deciding which narcissus to grow. Charles Quest-Ritson asks daffodil doyenne Christine Skelmersdale for ideas.
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The south front of Lowther Castle and view of the Parterre Garden from the gardens, designed by Dan Pearson. Credit: Paul Highnam/Country Life The best garden designers and landscapers in Britain
A beautiful country house is as much about its surroundings as its bricks and mortar, something that the best garden designers in Britain all understand. We've completely revised and updated our list of the finest of them all.
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Credit: Chris Warren / Marston and Langinger What to grow in a conservatory, from cacti and succulents to orchids and herbs
Conservatories are once again being used for cultivating and enjoying plants. Amelia Thorpe reports on a growing trend.
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Credit: Alamy Alan Titchmarsh: My chickens are scatty, stupid, selfish and bullying – but I wouldn't be without them
Chickens are scatty, stupid, selfish and bullying, says Alan Titchmarsh – and yet he wouldn’t be without them.
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A frosty March sunrise at Helman Tor, Cornwall Credit: Alamy Alan Titchmarsh: The joy of identifying trees in winter from the merest scrap of twig
Our columnist Alan Titchmarsh gives thanks for the tough training he received half a century ago – and how it kindled wonder and awe at the breadth of beauty and curiosity in the world’s botanical riches.
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Stunning Labyrinth Dahlias at Chenies Manor Garden, Buckinghamshire in October. Credit: Alamy From the Sweet Lady to the Crème de Cognac: Three expert opinions on the top dahlias to buy and plant now
The chase is on: if you want to grow the best dahlias in your borders this year, you need to get your orders in soon, says Val Bourne.
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Credit: Alun Callender The willow weaver: 'I like to let the host structure feed the form'
With such romantic names as Dicky Meadows, Flanders Red and Noir de Verlaine, willow is one of Nature’s most versatile materials. Jane Wheatley meet Laura Ellen Bacon, who crafts works of art from twisted stems of Salix.
