Gardens
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Alan Titchmarsh: A foolproof guide to growing wisteria
If you've been enviously eyeing the extraordinary wisteria on display across Britain and wondering how you can grow your own, help is at hand. Alan Titchmarsh shares his advice for growing this most glorious of horticultural spectacles.
By Alan Titchmarsh Last updated
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The man who trekked Bhutan, Mongolia, Japan, Tasmania and New Zealand to bring the world's greatest magnolias back to Kent
Magnolias don't get any more magnificent than the examples in the garden at White House Farm in Kent, home of Maurice Foster. Many of them were collected as seed in the wild — and they are only one aspect of his enthralling garden.
By Charles Quest-Ritson Published
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The 'breathtakingly magnificent' English country gardens laid out on the Amalfi Coast, and the story of how they got there
Kirsty Fergusson follows the Grand Tour to Campania in Italy, where the English combined their knowledge and love of plants with the rugged landscape to create gardens of extraordinary beauty.
By Kirsty Fergusson Published
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Have your say in the Historic Houses Garden of the Year Awards 2025
By Annunciata Elwes Published
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Evenley Wood Garden: 'I didn't know a daffodil from a daisy! But being middle-aged, ignorant and obstinate, I persisted'
When Nicola Taylor took on her plantsman father’s flower-filled woodland, she knew more about horses than trees, but, as Tiffany Daneff discovers, that hasn’t stopped her from making a great success of the garden. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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An expert guide to growing plants from seed
All you need to grow your own plants from seed is a pot, some compost, water and a sheltered place.
By John Hoyland Published
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The best rhododendron and azalea gardens in Britain
It's the time of year when rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias and many more spring favourites are starting to light up the gardens of the nation. Here are the best places to go to enjoy them at their finest.
By Amie Elizabeth White Published
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Great Comp: The blissful garden flooded with rhododendrons and azaleas that's just beyond the M25
Each spring, Great Comp Garden — just outside the M25, near Sevenoaks — erupts into bloom, with swathes of magnolias, azaleas and rhododendrons. Charles Quest-Ritson looks at what has become one of the finest gardens to visit in Kent.
By Charles Quest-Ritson Published
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'I'm the expert who wrote the RHS's guide to roses — here's why pruning them right now is almost certainly a terrible mistake'
More roses die from over-pruning than any other cause so what’s the reasoning underpinning this horticultural habit? Charles Quest-Ritson, the garden expert who wrote the RHS Encyclopedia of Roses, takes a closer look.
By Charles Quest-Ritson Last updated
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Forsythia: The spring flower that's a ray of sunshine — and a foolproof option for novice gardeners
Forsythia are often sniffed at for being too brassy, but there is a lot more going for them, says Charles Quest-Ritson, although don’t plant them next to clashing pink-flowering currants.
By Charles Quest-Ritson Published
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John Morley: A brush with the artist who changed the world of snowdrops
Tilly Ware meets the artist and galanthophile John Morley in his Suffolk garden, home to the oldest snowdrop nursery in the country.
By Tilly Ware Published
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Alan Titchmarsh: I went a bit mad ordering bulbs — and I'm not even a little bit sorry I did
Our columnist's splurge in the autumn is now paying off with spectacular irises across his garden.
By Alan Titchmarsh Published
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Dawn Chorus: How to travel around the world in 19 flowers and the Mini Moke that took St Moritz by storm
What do Charles Dickens, Henry VIII and Ellen Willmott all have in common? They all appear in a new book chronicling 19 flowers and the people responsible for bringing them to the UK. Find out how to get your hands on it, plus, we reveal why a rare Beach Boys-inspired Mini Moke turned up in a Swiss ski resort and a few of India Knight’s favourite things.
By Rosie Paterson Published
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How to make a gloomy city garden into a haven of colour and nature
Tiffany Daneff discovers how to transform a typically dark London back garden into a light-filled green haven that is always in use. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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The daffodil full of 'simple, dotty charm' that's the most generous of all Narcissus species
Charles Quest-Ritson looks at the endlessly cheerful hoop-petticoat daffodil, Narcissus bulbocodium.
By Charles Quest-Ritson Published
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‘It can take three days to paint one leaf’: The extraordinary, painstaking lives of Chelsea Physic Garden’s Florilegium Society artists
It sounds like a secret spy agency, but the Florilegium Society is actually a part of one of London’s oldest botanical gardens and they’re on an ambitious quest to record 5,000 plants.
By Catriona Gray Published
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The real language of flowers, or how to decode your Valentine's day bouquet
On 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.
By Martin Fone Last updated