Curious Questions: Why do we say it with flowers?
Post-Valentine's Day, Martin Fone takes a look at the true meaning behind flowers, decoding what each individual bloom says about the receiver - or the sender.
Gardens
We can’t get enough of our gardens at Country Life magazine. We love to visit gorgeous English country gardens at any time of year – and more and more are opening for longer, as you can see from our piece on beautiful gardens to visit all year around.
At the same time, different gardens are best at certain times of year. For instance we know the best places to see snowdrops, where to see bluebells, and the best gardens for afternoon tea in the summertime.
We have guides to our flowering trees, and our ultimate guide to British wildflowers, as well as tips on overcoming box blight and other garden pests.
Read on, and find out whether we are running any of our exclusive garden tours, which take readers to see some of the most impressive private gardens in Provence and Tuscany twice a year.
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Where to see snowdrops: The best places in Britain
The sight of snowdrops peeping through in January or February never fails to cheer us up – here's our pick of where to go and see them this winter.
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Gardening's oddest minefield: How naming and re-naming plants can send botanists, gardeners and writers into a spin
Mark Griffiths delves in to the world of plant names, unearthing quirky stories, scientific discovery — and an unfortunate case of imbecilic inaccuracy.
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Curious Questions: How the Monkey Puzzle tree get its name?
One of the most curious trees you'll see in Britain is also one of the most curiously-named: the Monkey Puzzle tree. But how did it get its name?
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Jason Goodwin: 'In the rain it looks like a teahouse in a run-down corner of Uzbekistan'
Jason Goodwin explains the origins of his garden glass house; a twinkling, relaxing spot in summer, but come winter, a place where no one dare go but the mice.
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Michael Heseltine: How the creation of my English country garden proceeded mistake by mistake
Michael Heseltine recounts the trials, tribulations and delights of creating a dream garden.
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What's the ultimate way to train roses?
Val Bourne explores whether Asthall Manor has cracked the ultimate way to train a rose wall.
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Le Clos du Peyronnet, France: The legendary English Riviera garden of William Waterfield
Charles Quest-Ritson visits the best English garden on the French riviera. Photographs by Claire Takacs.
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Alan Titchmarsh: The stunning midwinter trees whose bark is better than their bite
Our columnist Alan Titchmarsh chats through the winter plants which will light up your garden like fireworks.
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Jason Goodwin: The joy of a catalogue from the 'pornographers of herbage, greenery and legumes'
Our spectator columnist extols the wonders of the January gardening catalogues, relishing the chance to plan his fantasy garden from the comfort of his bed.
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Plums to grow, plums to show, and plums to pop in your gin
Mark Diacono picks his favourite plums — and their close relatives, damsons, mirabelles, bullaces and gages.
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Your month-by-month checklist of what to do in the garden and when in 2020
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Alan Titchmarsh: Why I hugged my trees on Christmas Day — and I don't care who knows it
Alan Titchmarsh explains why Christmas is such a very special day in his garden — and how he makes the most of it.
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The plucky amateur gardener who created 'blue holly', and spawned a trend which stretches the world
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Curious Questions: Why do we have poinsettias at Christmas — and why did it get the name 'excrement flower'?
Their bright red leaves brighten up our houses at this time of year, but how did the tradition of having poinsettias at Christmas start? Mark Griffiths explains.
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How to choose and appreciate your apples with the same care you'd use for a decent bottle of wine
Charles Quest-Ritson loves apples — but laments the fact that we simply don't have the same vocabulary to describe the fruit as we do for wine.
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How Country Life has influenced Britain's best gardens, from the late 19th century to today
Celebrating the publication of her new book English Gardens, illustrated from the archives of Country Life, Kathryn Bradley-Hole charts the magazine’s extraordinary influence on our gardens.
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Horticultural marmite: The natural phenomenon which divides gardeners all over Britain
Variegated foliage may be the bread and butter of some gardens, but for some horticulturalists it seems sickly and spoiled.
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Clovelly Court: The Devon country estate pulling off the vital trick needed by a modern country estate
Every Tuesday, we go back through the Country Life archives to enjoy an article from the past — this week, it's Clovelly Manor in Devon. Tim Longville visited for the magazine some four years ago, with Val Corbett taking the pictures.
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Alan Titchmarsh: The 'Hollywood A-listers' of the plant world are fussy, flouncy — and totally irresistible
Alan Titchmarsh waxes lyrical about the benefits of bulbs, and why disposing of them year on year might not be the environmental sin that it seems.
