Country Life's 10 best garden stories of 2021

From Alan Titchmarsh's beautiful prose to expert advice on growing an orchard.

Kylemore Abbey, looking out across Pollacappul Lake. Photograph by Zara Napier; Zara is on Instagram at @zaranapier1.
Kylemore Abbey, looking out across Pollacappul Lake. Photograph by Zara Napier; Zara is on Instagram at @zaranapier1.
(Image credit: Zara Napier)

The 10 best shrubs for your garden, by the legendary gardener who’s dedicated his life to them

The revered gardener Peter Catt has bred and grown some of the finest shrubs in Britian. He told Val Bourne about his ten favourites.

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Alan Titchmarsh: A foolproof guide to growing wisteria

The plant might not be evergreen, but Alan's advice for how to make it thrive certainly is.

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The ultimate guide to planting your own orchard

‘Getting it right is easy,' explains Mark Diacono. 'Sadly, so is getting it wrong.’

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The best garden designers and landscapers in Britain

Not all garden designers understand that a country house and its surroundings must work in harmony. Here's our list of the very best who do.

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Kylemore Abbey Gardens: An Irish garden that ‘is one of earth’s wonders’

(Image credit: Zara Napier)

Last winter's lockdown was still in force when we ran this piece telling the story of the determination of the resident community of Benedictine nuns and their eight-acre garden at Kylemore Abbey Gardens in Connemara, Ireland.

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Your month-by-month checklist of what to do in the garden and when

Simply brilliant advice, given to us by Becky Crowley, formerly in charge of the cutting garden at Chatsworth.

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Japanese Acers: The ultimate guide to what to grow, how to grow it and the best acer varieties for your garden

We're delighted to see how well-received this piece was — we've a true soft-spot for these most delicately pretty of trees.

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Monty Don: The point of gardening

It’s to find solace, to be happy, to make beauty, have fun and muck about. How you do it doesn’t matter.' Monty's interview actually wentup on the site in late 2020, yet was still being read many months later.

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The best herbs to grow in your garden aren’t the ones you use the most. Here’s why.

I recently moved to a new garden,' says Mark Diacono in this piece. 'Thankfully, it came with a house attached.' Now that's the mark of a true gardener.

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Drummond Castle Gardens in winter: The winter beauty of the gardens made famous by Outlander

A photo posted by on

In the depths of winter at Drummond Castle is a garden made famous by the Outlander TV series. Caroline Donald told its story, with wonderful pictures by Clive Nichols.

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Monty Don: How to stop worrying and learn to love gardening in November

November can be a depressing time for gardeners – but not if you dive in and make the best of it,

Mississippi

Credit: Getty Images

Carla Carlisle: 'I’m about to expand on my belief that reading fertilises our memories and allows us to visit our past without getting hurt when I see her eyes wander off towards Monty Don'

Books create a powerful connection with the home of your youth, finds Carla Carlisle.

The Gardens at The Manor, Priors Marston, Warwickshire, photographed by Clive Nichols. Before Dragonfly could be launched, the lake had to be cleared of weeds and silt.
(Image credit: Clive Nichols)

The Gardens at The Manor, Priors Marston: A house bought on a same-day impulse that became a 20-year labour of love

The inspiration for the garden of The Manor, Priors Marston, Warwickshire, was to create a landscape to meander through, with

St Pauls Cathedral in London.
(Image credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Carla Carlisle: 'I felt a surge of gratitude and hopefulness that’s hard to describe. You could call it Thanksgiving.'

A visit to St Paul's Cathedral provokes a flood of feelings in Carla Carlisle.

Arthur Parkinson.
(Image credit: Garden Day UK)

Arthur Parkinson: 'It’s a crime that we have forsaken our wildflower meadows for petrol lawnmowers and Flymos'

Toby Keel

Toby Keel is Country Life's Digital Director, and has been running the website and social media channels since 2016. A former sports journalist, he writes about property, cars, lifestyle, travel, nature.