Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

This month marks 30 years since the first issue of Gardens Illustrated magazine went on sale, in 1993. That was the year Queen Elizabeth II opened Buckingham Palace to the public for the first time, Jurassic Park was released in cinemas and, despite an ongoing recession, a band of determined garden lovers decided to create a different kind of magazine, for those just as interested, or more, in the art and craft of gardens, as in the practical aspects of gardening. The first edition featured articles by respected names including Penelope Hobhouse, Beth Chatto and Anna Pavord, who is still one of our valued contributing editors to this day. Over the course of 324 issues, there have been countless wonderful places, plants and people featured in these pages, but there…

CHOISYA X DEWITTEANA WHITE DAZZLER (= ‘LONDAZ’) This superb hybrid between C. dumosa and C. ‘Aztec Pearl’ suits even the smallest garden with its compact size and neat habit. It's a fairly recent addition to our Gravel Garden, where it has taken a couple of years to form a waist-high evergreen dome of deeply cut, palmate foliage. Aptly named, it produces an abundant display of starry-white, scented flowers in spring and early summer, often repeating again in early autumn. It appears less prone to frost damage than the larger-growing C. ternata and requires little or no pruning to keep its shape. AGM*. Height and spread 1-1.5m x 1-1.5m. Origin Garden (species USA, Mexico). Conditions Well-drained soil; full sun. Hardiness RHS H4, USDA 7a-10b†. Season of interest April – May. THERMOPSIS…

Earliest gardening memory Trying to climb the enormous English oak in my grandparents’ garden. It is estimated to be around 350 years old, taking up pretty much the entire garden. I remember as a small child looking up at the canopy from the base of the trunk and thinking that something so big and complicated couldn't possibly be real. First plant love Probably the Matsumae cherry Prunus ‘Shizuka’. My mum planted one when she first moved into the house and every year it filled our small back garden with an amazing sweet scent, then carpeted the lawn with beautiful pale-pink and white petals. Your career route I came into horticulture at 17. I didn't know what I wanted to do, I just wanted to get out of the classroom for…

James Compton Botanist James has checked our pages for all of our 30 years. “I've had the pleasure of being a part of the excellent Gardens Illustrated magazine throughout and have learned a great deal.” Justin Foulkes Justin photographs talented gardener Sam Hickmott, page 39. “It would be difficult not to be excited by Sam's plans for the garden at Lytes Cary. I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.” Arthur Parkinson Arthur chooses the best seeds to sow in situ, page 90. “Scattering seeds directly results in a wild romance to any garden and some even flourish within the cracks of a patio's paving.” CONTRIBUTING EDITORS James Basson James lives in the South of France where he runs Scape Design, a practice specialising in low-maintenance and dry gardens. He…

Be sure to check opening times. Some garden visits may need to be pre-booked. Not far from Bury St Edmunds, tucked away in a quiet corner of Suffolk that sits between the King's Forest and Lackford Lakes Nature Reserve, you'll find the tranquil gardens of Fullers Mill – an intimate plantsman's paradise that has evolved over time. When the late Bernard Tickner MBE, local head brewer, plantsman and conservationist, bought the pink riverside cottage in the late 1950s, there was no garden to speak of and the mill used for fulling (the thickening of cloth by beating it in water) was long gone. Over the following five decades, the seven-acre site was transformed into a haven filled with choice plants, many of which came from gardening friends such as Beth…

PEOPLE MAKER A love of nature – and particularly of the sea during her career as an underwater photographer – has led artist and bio-designer Zena Holloway to a whole new world of experimentation. For the past few years, she has been creating sustainable sculptures, vessels, wall hangings, homewares and fashion pieces from a lacy, web-like fabric she grows herself from wheatgrass roots. The result is extraordinarily beautiful, ethereal even: webs of coiled and interwoven roots that she manipulates to create the most intricate of patterns. It was reading an article on bio-design, about people growing material from mushrooms, that first excited her interest and, after dabbling with that, she started experimenting with grass roots, which are ideal because they naturally mesh together. “Each cereal crop has a different root…

PLANTING IDEAS ARTHUR PARKINSON Arthur is a gardener and writer, who co-hosts the Grow, cook, eat, arrange podcast with Sarah Raven @arthurparkinson_ The romance of scattering seeds around the garden and pots is valuable mental child's play for gardeners. STEFANO MARINAZ Stefano is a garden designer who trials many plantsthat he uses in his gardens on his allotment. stefanomarinaz.com Sowing in situ is a great way to keep the maintenance of the garden low without having to transplant from pots. WHERE TO BUY Recommended seed suppliers • Chiltern Seeds Tel 01491 824675, chilternseeds.co.uk • Crocus crocus.co.uk • Moles Seeds Tel 01206 213213, wholesale.molesseeds.co.uk • Mr Fothergills Tel 0333 777 3936, mr-fothergills.co.uk • Plant World Seeds Tel 01803 872939, plant-world-seeds.com • Sarah Raven Tel 0345 092 0283, sarahraven.com • Special Plants…

THE CUT FLOWER SOURCEBOOK: EXCEPTIONAL PERENNIALS AND WOODY PLANTS FOR CUTTING by Rachel Siegfried A handsome and engaging book detailing a low-input approach to cut-flower growing that will appeal to professionals and amateurs alike. Reviewer Louise Curley is a freelance garden and nature writer. The surge in interest over the past decade in seasonal, British-grown cut flowers has seen a boom in books on the subject. Much of the emphasis has been on growing highly productive annuals, but there's a lot of time, effort and resources involved in all that sowing, pricking out and growing on, which is why this book, the first one in the cut-flower genre to focus entirely on perennial and woody plants, is such a delight. With her extensive experience as a gardener, flower grower and florist, Rachel…

SAVE UP TO £75 Erythronium dens-canis ‘Old Aberdeen’ Erythronium tuolumnense ‘Spindlestone’ Erythronium ‘Harvington Sunshine’ Erythronium californicum ‘White Beauty’ Erythronium revolutum ‘Knightshayes Pink’ Erythronium oregonum Erythroniums are a charming springtime choice for dappled shade and woodland edges. Our feature on page 78 highlights some of the new, exciting cultivars coming on to the market from specialist Twelve Nunns Nursery in Lincolnshire. Take advantage of our great value offer to get some of the choicest erythroniums at a great price. Choose from the following three offer options. OFFER 1: STARTER PACK One bulb each of: • E. dens-canis ‘Old Aberdeen’ • E. californicum ‘White Beauty’ • E. tuolumnense ‘Spindlestone’ Offer price £15 inc p&p: SAVE £3.99. Or three bulbs of each for £30 inc p&p: SAVE £14.99. OFFER 2: CONNOISSEUR'S PACK One…

Brushes with nature Well-known printmaker Angie Lewin is exhibiting more than 40 of her watercolour paintings in a solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh this month. Wild Garden features paintings that draw inspiration from the wildflowers found in the landscapes where she has lived and worked, including the North Norfolk coast and, currently, the Scottish Highlands. The exhibition, which runs until 29 April, also incorporates still life paintings depicting her growing collection of ceramics. angielewin.co.uk Talking point SHOULD YOU MIST YOUR HOUSEPLANTS? We're often advised to mist indoor plants to avoid the brown leaf tips and crispy leaves associated with dry air, but recently this has been challenged. In Not Another Jungle (DK, £16.99), which is reviewed in our next issue, houseplant expert Tony Le-Britton (above) states: ‘It's…

1 Gardens Illustrated launches The first issue of new magazine Gardens Illustrated hit the ne ands in April 1993 “in a flurry of excitement.” says launch editor Rosie Atkins. “Despite coming out of an economic recession, we assumed our readers had a garden (sometimes two), enjoyed travel and food, and cared about what they wore and what books they read. They were passionate about the environment and conservation, and I doubt much has changed.” At first, the magazine was published bi-monthly, going monthly in 1998. In the 30 years since that first edition, Gardens Illustrated has had only five editors, and has grown beyond the print publication to exciting new developments including our digital channels, and live and online events. 2 Christo rips out the Rose Garden In 1994, when Great Dixter's…

Gemma Jerome is perched at the kitchen table in her flat in Stroud, Gloucestershire, wearing a vivid cerise top, and dangly earrings under her crop of red hair. “My interest – and it runs through me like a stick of rock,” she says, “is not the environment but social justice. How do we give people fair and equal access to housing that includes green space?” A chair of her local Labour Party association for two years, Gemma speaks of, “disrupting the market economy around placemaking and development for profit”, by means of the highly successful green infrastructure benchmark she has devised as founder-director of Building with Nature. This is a voluntary set of guidelines for developers seeking to realise a measurable 10 per cent increase in biodiversity net gain, which…

PLANTS NURSERY Breeding is a dedicated game, that much is a given: you need to know your plants, be able to spot the vigour here, the variation over there; the mottled leaf or a dainty tilt of a head, then there's the record keeping and the space required for all those little babies to become the ones that stand out. On top of this is the time it takes. To give some perspective to this, the breeding programme at Twelve Nunns Nursery spans two generations and has taken more than 20 years of careful, meticulous selection to create a three new Harvington erythroniums. And now that Harvington trio is finally ready to meet the world. Twelve Nunns Nursery, based in Lincolnshire, is known for delightful woodlanders: the Harvington Hellebores, interesting…

WHY WE GARDEN by Claire Masset Batsford Books, £14.99, ISBN 978-1849947565 Drawing on the wisdom of writers, artists, scientists and philosophers, this thoughtful guide explores why we love our gardens. THINGS TO DO WITH PLANTS by Emma Crawforth Kew Publishing, £18, ISBN 978-1842467794 A plethora of ways in which we can interact with plants, including making perfumes or tea, weaving baskets, reducing noise and improving office productivity. ZEN IN THE GARDEN by Miki Sakamoto Scribe Publications, £12.99, ISBN 978-1914484032 Observations from a life spent in contemplation, demonstrating how to use gardening to slow down and accept life as it is – the Japanese art of garden bathing. LEGENDS OF THE LEAF by Jane Perrone Unbound, £14.99, ISBN 978-1800182004 The stories behind 25 iconic houseplants with tips on how to get…