Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

The days may be shorter now that we are firmly in autumn, but the more pleasant characteristics of the season are also in abundance, from blazing leaf colour to low sun backlighting beautiful senesced seedheads and buff grasses. We have plenty of both on show in this issue, with five amazing autumn gardens, from the golden light at designer Cristina Mazzucchelli’s own country retreat in Italy (page 28) to the traditional, formal charm of a leafy Cumbrian garden (page 60) and a naturalistic stream garden created from scratch by Peter Berg for a young family (page 38). There’s also fiery foliage in a tiny town plot in Amsterdam (page 54) by up-and-coming designer Arjan Boekel, and late-season perennial planting still shining into autumn in our cover garden in Australia (page…

17-19 An Introduction to Botanical Illustration Join Laura Silburn for expert tuition in botanical illustration. Friday 17 – Sunday 19 November, 10am-4pm. £250. Eden Project, Bodelva, Cornwall PL24 2SG. Tel 01726 811972, edenproject.com 18 Winter Propagation Workshop Learn more about hardwood cuttings and seed sowing. Saturday 18 November, 10am-4pm. £45. Sculpture by the Lakes, Pallington Lakes, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 8QU. Tel 07720 637808, sculpturebythelakes.co.uk 28 Stylish Festive Containers Discover how to plant a festive container. Tuesday 28 November, 10.30am-12pm. £65. Petersham Nurseries, Church Lane, off Petersham Road, Richmond TW10 7AB. petershamnurseries.com…

Georgie Newbery Florist and flower farmer Georgie offers tips on growing sweet peas, page 46. “Growing sweet peas changed my life: I grew too many, began to sell them, and became a flower farmer.” Kat Weatherill Kat photographs a beautiful Cumbrian garden, page 60. “The garden was bathed in a warm golden sunrise, highlighting the rich palette of autumn colours and planting structure.” Tony Kirkham Tree expert Tony looks at the best trees to plant so we can adapt our gardens to a changing climate, page 66. “We must begin to think outside the box with tree selection for the future.” CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Charlotte Harris Charlotte co-founded the values-driven landscape design practice Harris Bugg Studio with Hugo Bugg in 2017. She has won three Gold medals at the RHS Chelsea…

LIQUIDAMBAR STYRACIFLUA With its fiery autumn display, the sweet gum is a classic choice for brightening up the gloomier months. While some cultivars change colour in early autumn, ours bides its time before becoming engulfed in shades of golden-marmalade, red and crimson-burgundy, a show that often lasts well into December. Avoid planting in frost pockets, as young trees can be susceptible to damage, and beware the aggressive root system. ‘Worplesdon’ has greater frost tolerance and a uniform-looking crown, while the columnar ‘Slender Silhouette’ reaches only 5m in ten years, eventually doubling in size. Height and spread 20m × 8m. Origin Eastern USA. Conditions Moisture-retentive soil; sun or partial shade. Hardiness RHS H6, USDA 5a-9b†. Season of interest Autumn colour. September – December depending on the cultivar. ABELIA X GRANDIFLORA I…

Peter Chan’s knowledge of bonsai is self-taught. “Many people, when they see a Chinese face, think ‘Oh, you must have learned the art of bonsai from your father or grandfather’. No way. I taught myself and everything I have learned has been through Pmy own experimenting.” Not that Peter keeps his 57 years of bonsai experience and expertise to himself. On the contrary, he runs Britain’s leading bonsai nursery, Herons, on a seven-acre site in Lingfield, Surrey, and shares his knowledge worldwide through his books, workshops and how-to videos. “Creating and teaching are what I love. YouTube has been a revelation. I only started my channel four years ago and I have built up a following of more than 452,000,” he says. “I want to make bonsai simple. There should…

• Always buy your tree from a reputable nursery or garden centre, where staff will be on hand to advise on the size of tree and type of root system. When deciding on which tree is best for your garden, keep in mind the phrase ‘right tree, right place’ to which I would add a third R: ‘for the right reason’. • Plant small to allow the tree to get acclimatised to local growing conditions as it begins to grow. A larger, more mature specimen will need more time to adapt. • Plant trees from early autumn (October) through to late spring (April). I am a great fan of autumn planting, while there is still some warmth in the soil that will help to establish a root system before the…

SECRET GARDENS OF CORNWALL: A PRIVATE TOUR by Tim Hubbard, photographs by Jo and Rob Whitworth Frances Lincoln, £22 ISBN 978-0711281493 A glorious ode to Cornwall’s most loved gardens and little-known gems; with images that capture the haunting beauty of this weather-beaten county. Reviewer Natalie Ashbee is a garden writer, producer and editor. I eagerly anticipated this book, having loved others in the series. And since I now share the same west Cornwall landscape as the author, Tim Hubbard, I was a little apprehensive as to whether it would disappoint. It didn’t. Exciting, interesting and intriguing; I gorged on this inspirational book in a couple of days and, considering I live in Cornwall and know many of these gardens well, from filming in them or from my own garden explorations,…

GARDEN ART Funding the future Great Dixter in East Sussex is one of the UK’s most celebrated gardens, but rising costs mean that funding the garden is becoming ever more difficult. Now artist and gardener Charlotte Molesworth is lending Dixter a helping hand with a charming limited-edition print of the garden. For a suggested minimum donation of £500, supporters will receive one of 200 panels depicting Charlotte’s design, screen-printed by Rosie MacCurrach on unbleached linen. The money raised will allow head gardener Fergus Garrett to realise his vision, including training the next generation of gardeners and undertaking urgent restoration projects. To find out more, head to greatdixter.co.uk/the-2023-appeal Talking point SQUIRRELED AWAY Planting out tulip bulbs can sometimes feel like a leap of faith. We plant in the expectation that our…

Be sure to check opening times. Some garden visits may need to be pre-booked. I was recently weeding beneath a swamp cypress (Taxodium distichum), which had just started to shed its rust-coloured needles, and found myself marvelling at its size and autumn colour (while simultaneously trying not to trip over its distinctive ‘knobbly knees’). Conifers, mainly the deciduous ones, play such an important role here in our Water Garden, continuing to add structure and winter interest with their naked silhouettes, even after they’ve shed their needles. Beth called them her church spires and used them to ‘paint the sky’. (For those interested, there is a short video of Beth Chatto and Roy Lancaster discussing trees on the RHS website, rhs.org.uk) I’ve always been impressed by the range and superb quality…

Earliest garden memory Harvesting and eating fresh carrots and berries from my grandmother’s garden. Having lived through two world wars, she turned up her nose at ‘ornamental’ plants. Everything in her garden had to earn its keep by providing something for the family. Favourite landscapes that have influenced you The pretty, mysterious wooded valley of the River Lahn where I grew up – a typical landscape of German romanticism and Grimms’ fairy tales. And the Ruaha National Park in Tanzania, with its majestic baobab trees – they’re unforgettable in their natural habitat. Also the Knepp Estate in Sussex, where I spent a week working in the walled garden – it was fascinating to see how it sits within the larger rewilded landscape of the estate. Worthwhile tips Be patient, observe…

Georgie's top 10 sweet peas to grow A stand of sweet peas is an irresistible addition to any summer garden, planted to grow up teepees, scramble over pergolas, fill pots or (my favourite) grow in rows, potager style, in a cut-flower patch. I started my cut-flower business by selling bunches of sweet peas from a barrow in the lane in front of my house, and I wouldn’t be without them. I love their scent as well as their crepe de chine frilliness, and although they aren’t wowfactor flowers, they are great when cut, as each one is individual perfection. My clients love them tumbling out of wedding bouquets, tight in table posies or dotted about the house in handfuls. Sow after the autumn equinox and your seed will germinate slowly…

IN BRIEF What Large rural garden, blending formality with informality. Where Cumbria. Size Six acres of garden that sit within nine acres in total. Soil Heavy clay, high water table. Climate Exposed to westerly winds and high rainfall. Hardiness zone USDA 8b. There are many factors that influence the evolution of a garden, and the weather often plays a crucial role, as it did in this private Cumbrian garden. Since the 1960s, the garden has been under constant development, resulting in an extensive collection of trees and shrubs. The house is surrounded on all sides by garden, approximately six acres in total, and a southwestern aspect Tmeans the prevailing winds take their toll. When the current owners arrived in 2004, there were two large conifer plantations containing approximately 500 established trees. Planted to shelter the…

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WHAT WE SOW by Jennifer Jewell Timber Press, £25 ISBN 978-1643261072 An examination of organic seed production, agribusiness and the efforts of activists working to regain legal access to heirloom seeds stolen from Indigenous peoples. A GARDEN A DAY by Ruth Chivers Batsford, £20 ISBN 978-1849947893 Daily entries of 366 gardens from around the globe, from the hanging gardens of Babylon to a vegetable plot on the International Space Station. FORAGE & STITCH by Caroline Hyde-Brown Search Press, £15.99 ISBN 978-1800920040 A renowned textile artist shows how to incorporate naturally foraged materials into textile creations with eight projects to put your new skills into practice. HAPPY INDOOR GARDEN by Miranda Janatka Batsford Books, £20 ISBN 978-1849948265 Creating an indoor garden in five key rooms of the house, advising on location,…