Country Life's 10 best garden stories of 2021
From Alan Titchmarsh's beautiful prose to expert advice on growing an orchard.
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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.
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.
The ultimate guide to planting your own orchard
‘Getting it right is easy,' explains Mark Diacono. 'Sadly, so is getting it wrong.’
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’
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Drummond Castle Gardens in winter: The winter beauty of the gardens made famous by Outlander
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.
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,
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: 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
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: 'It’s a crime that we have forsaken our wildflower meadows for petrol lawnmowers and Flymos'
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.
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If the future of Ferrari is electric vehicles, then it is our future too
It's widely believed that Ferrari will unveil its first electric car this year. It's the signal that the internal combustion era is coming to an end.
By James Fisher Published
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Gaze over Cap Ferrat in this four-bedroom French villa
Ignore the wind and the rain. Imagine yourself in this hillside home with some of the best views the Mediterranean can offer.
By James Fisher 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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‘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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Isabel Bannerman: The year’s first and most abundantly cheery, uplifting and undemanding of winter flowers
Cyclamen coum is one of the plants that lights up our gardens at this time of year.
By Isabel Bannerman Published
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Country Life's top 10 gardens articles of 2024
From the gardens of A-listers and crazed plant hunters to tips on compost, we covered it all in 2024.
By Toby Keel Published
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Alan Titchmarsh's garden: No insecticides, no herbicides, just beautiful flowers, lawns, a statue of Repton and a swing seat that's impossible to resist
It’s always fascinating to see what a high-profile gardening personality does with their own home. Tiffany Daneff visits Alan Titchmarsh’s Hampshire garden, to find a place of endless delights and charm. Photographs by Jonathan Buckley.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024: See all the gold medallists
We take a look at all the gold medallists from the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. All photographs by Andrew Sydenham for Country Life.
By Toby Keel Published
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Alan Titchmarsh on Chelsea 2024: 'We need controversy to make us think... Just don’t expect me to regard slugs and snails as my friend'
Alan Titchmarsh looks ahead to the 'matchless spectacle' of the 2024 Chelsea Flower Show, the 'Paris catwalk of the British gardening scene.'
By Alan Titchmarsh Published
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Mark Diacono: Chips, mash, roasted or dauphinoise — all better with your own potatoes
The versatile varieties of the potato make it a great crop to experiment with and, no matter what, nothing beats the taste of home grown
By Mark Diacono Published