Country Life’s 10 best garden stories of 2021

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

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’

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

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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