A pilgrimage to the garden at Villa Lante, an incomparable flower of the Italian Renaissance
After 40 years, George Plumptre finally realises his dream and sees for himself Vignola’s masterpiece: the garden at Villa Lante.
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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Why you should grow your own potatoes and the 8 varieties you need to try when you do
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Country Life’s best gardening tips of 2018: Wisteria, Christmas trees and getting rid of box moth caterpillars
Our panel of experts includes writer and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh and Charles Quest-Ritson, author of the RHS Encyclopedia of Roses as well as many others. Here are their most popular gardening tips of the year.
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Alan Titchmarsh: The best hyacinths and narcissi to bring flowers indoors at Christmas
Gardening writer and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh shares his tips on growing indoor bulbs to bring heavenly scents indoors at Christmas.
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Dogwoods and willows: A new style of winter planting?
Mark Griffiths extols the merits of these bare-stemmed beauties in the world of winter planning, which are both a joy to create and easy to maintain.
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Christmas gift ideas for around the house and garden
For the newly married couple, decor enthusiast or the person who has just about everything else, here is a collection of wonderful gifts for the whole household to enjoy.
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Growing your own Christmas tree: Alan Titchmarsh on what to plant and where to plant it
Why buy your Christmas tree when you can grow your own and enjoy these handsome, statuesque trees all year round? Alan Titchmarsh offers his tips.
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The utterly royal shopping list, from beautiful winter flowers to hand-made suits that defy disposable culture
For one week only we've transformed our regular utterly inessential shopping list into an utterly royal shopping list, to coincide with the Prince of Wales guest editing Country Life.
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Across Britain, bizarre fruits have appeared – thanks to the freezing snows and blast-furnace heat of 2018
Britain's brutally-cold winter followed by a scorchingly hot summer have caused all manner of wonders to appear in our gardens, even months after the weather has returned to normal. Steven Desmond explains how it's happened.
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Rofford Manor: A derelict house and garden transformed into a harmonious haven
George Plumptre is won over by a sympathetic and highly individual design that gradually reveals its string of secrets.
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The best apples you've never heard of: From Winter Banana to Pommerscher Krummstiel
Charles Quest-Ritson takes us beyond the Granny Smith to explore other varieties of this quintessentially English fruit.
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Curious Questions: Why do leaves change colour in Autumn? And why do some go yellow while others are red, purple or brown?
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Alan Titchmarsh: Cyclamen, October colour and Nature's most extraordinary colour clash
Our columnist Alan Titchmarsh reflects on the ups and downs of Autumn gardening, where this rag bag of a season occasionally gives us reasons to be joyous.
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Scampston Hall: The early work of a master garden designer, still shining bright after two decades
Piet Oudolf was still up and coming when he was commissioned to create a garden at Scampston Hall in North Yorkshire. Twenty years later, the work he did shows exactly why he has gone on to enjoy a fine career, as Non Morris discovers.
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Powis Castle: An exemplary, inspirational and uplifting garden full fit for the 21st century
Non Morris visits Powis Castle in Welshpool, a plantsman’s paradise that reveals more and more as you traverse its many terraced layers. Photographs by Val Corbett.
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12 breathtaking images to inspire you to enter the International Garden Photographer of the Year
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Japanese knotweed: How a delicate bloom beloved of the Victorians became a modern British scourge
Japanese knotweed took Britain by storm in the 19th century as a beautiful and highly-prized plant that was hugely fashionable. More recently it's had a very different impact, as Mark Griffiths explains.
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Sarah Raven: '15 years ago we couldn’t sell a dinner-plate-sized dahlia for love nor money’
The expert plantswoman tells us all about dahlia trends and gives advice for the best colours to use in 2019. Tiffany Daneff reports.
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Alan Titchmarsh: How to make your garden a riot of colour in the depths of September and October
At this time of year, most of our gardens have long since said goodbye to their most vibrant colours – but it doesn't have to be that way, as Alan Titchmarsh explains.
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Natural swimming pools: Everything you need to know about building one in your garden
Natural swimming ponds–refreshing, aesthetically pleasing, wildlife friendly and more harmonious in the landscape–are becoming fashionable. Why not take the plunge, suggests Tiffany Daneff.
