Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

Small gardens, it is said, are the most difficult to design. Everything can be seen at once, and there are the added complications of being overlooked by neighbours and having the one view to gaze out on all year round. To aid you in this challenge, this issue is our Small Garden special edition, with six inspirational projects to explore, from the city to suburbia. There are sunny family gardens, shady woodland-style oases and plant-lovers’ paradises, as well as designers’ tips on how to make the most of a limited space (page 28). Our columnist Nigel Slater discusses why he wouldn't want a larger garden than his small city space (page 25), and Professor Dave Goulson explains how even a tiny meadow patch in small garden can make a big…

25AUGUST Bonsai National Collection Open Day Learn more about bonsai. Sunday 25 August, 10am4pm. Free with garden admission (£9.35). Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Westbourne Road, Birmingham B15 3TR. birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk 30 AUGUST 1 SEPTEMBER Gather & Grow: Regeneration A new three-day festival with workshops and talks on gardening, food and wellness. From Friday 30 August. From £35. The Newt in Somerset, Bruton, Somerset BA7 7NG. thenewtinsomerset.com 5 SEPTEMBER Autumn Bouquet Workshop Learn to make an autumninspired bouquet with Sarah from Pod & Pip. Tea, coffee and cake included. Thursday 5 September, 10am-12pm. £80. Pod & Pip, Ebble House, Stratford Tony, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP5 4AT. podandpip.co.uk…

I sway back and forth between wanting a larger garden and one that is smaller and more manageable. A larger garden would offer the chance for my longed-for greenhouse, a timber framed, green-roofed shed and room for a cluster of raised vegetable beds. A smaller one, on the other hand, would allow me the luxury of being in control. An option that seems ever more tempting. My main garden is small and rather typical of the long, thin ‘shoebox’ spaces that go hand-in-hand with living in an urban terrace. Unusually, the house also benefits from a tiny, sunken basement garden at the rear. Barely four metres square, it sits several feet below the principal garden. It is, I think, rather charming. Protected by high walls and a micro-climate due to…

I'm happy to let dandelions grow for bees. My little boy loves blowing the clocks, so the pure joy they provide for him means they are welcome Earliest garden memory My dad growing sunflowers in the front garden. I remember asking my mum if they would grow higher than the windows. They did. First plant love Sweet peas. They were one of the first plants I grew and I remember admiring their tendrils and ability to climb. Their scent was also exciting. I had heard about it but had never experienced it until I grew them myself. Who has inspired your career the most? The staff and trainees at Organic Blooms Flower Farm. They grow skills, confidence and wellbeing of people alongside the cut flowers. Their work combines my two…

THE GOOD BUG: A CELEBRATION OF INSECTS – AND WHAT WE CAN by Dr George McGavin Michael O'Mara Books, £10.99 ISBN 978-1789296693 Both a celebration and a call to arms from one of the UK's foremost entomologists, this useful book shows us just what all of the vast array of insects in the UK do for our ecosystems, how humans are threatening their habitats and what we can do to help protect them. SEASONAL PLANTING IN GARDEN DESIGN: A GUIDE TO CREATING YEAR-ROUND COLOUR AND STRUCTURE by Catherine Heatherington The Crowood Press, £20 ISBN 978-0719843891 Experienced designer Heatherington explores the aesthetics of successional planting design that not only brings interest to the garden all year round, but also encourages biodiversity and takes steps towards mitigating the climate crisis. By emphasising…

One hundred years ago, England and Wales had more than seven million acres of flower-rich meadows, cut for hay in summer and occasionally grazed by livestock. They teemed with butterflies, bumblebees and other insects, providing food for skylarks, corncrakes, lapwings and much more besides. The switch to silage instead of hay as a winter food for farm animals made these meadows redundant. In a 50-year period in the middle of the 20th century, 97 per cent of our flower-rich meadows were swept away, a massive loss of habitat for our precious wildlife. Only small scraps remain; isolated islands of biodiversity surrounded by inhospitable terrain. Restoring meadows has become a priority for many wildlife charities, and some exciting projects are underway. Most of us don't own a meadow and may feel…

Jimena Martignoni Jimena profiles Chilean landscape architect Teresa Moller, page 50. “The opportunity to put Latin American designers in the spotlight is why I love to write.” Caitlin Atkinson Caitlin photographs a small suburban garden, page 52. “It was a true pleasure to photograph Jac Semmler's home garden, a prolific display in verges, front garden and back lot.” Beth Al Rikabi Beth shares recipes for late summer, page 70. “Pendulous hedgerows and seasonal gluts make me hugely excited, providing oodles of inspiration for my creative cooking and recipe sharing.” 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 Flower Show, as well as Best Show Garden in 2023. Fergus Garrett…

FACT FILE What A genus of around 25 species of exotic-looking tuberous herbaceous perennials, from the Zingiberaceae family. Season Mid-spring to late summer, usually beyond. Size Height varies from 30-60cm. Size of clump depends on the species and growing conditions. Conditions Dappled or part shade and moistureretentive, free-draining soil. Origins The Himalayas and parts of China. Hardiness Hardy throughout most of the UK and suitable for gardens in USDA zones 6a to 8b. *Holds an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. †Hardiness ratings given where available. Mention the ginger family and your mind instantly turns to exotics from the tropics with their flamboyant flowers and bracts. In temperate climes, you may be reminded of Cautleya spicata, a stalwart of exotic borders, but there are also other glamorous…

Chile, where Teresa Moller grew up, is a long country of many varied landscapes framed by the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Her first memories of the natural world, from family camping trips, are of desert and woodlands; landscapes that shaped in her an intimate connection to nature. “I always felt that the mountains meant strong protection, the forest was shelter, and the ocean and the desert immensity,” she says. “I believe Chile is a country where nature expresses itself in a very dramatic and powerful way, and this profound feeling dwells within every one of us Chileans.” Although she is of Danish and Spanish ancestry, Teresa's identity seems strongly rooted in the essence of the Chilean land. This love of nature is…

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A collaboration between author Jamaica Kincaid and artist Kara Walker, An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children takes readers of all ages on a journey through the colonial history of plants, exploring fruits, flowers and other figures from our botanical world. Jamaica's text accompanies each entry, and Kara Walker illustrates them with multilayered watercolours. Guiding readers through the ABCs of the plants that define our world, both artists reveal the oftenbrutal history behind them. This witty yet hard-hitting book gives an important look at how the legacies of empire and slavery shape where and why we grow certain crops. Jamaica's previous books include At the Bottom of the River; Annie John; Lucy; The Autobiography of My Mother; My Brother; Mr Potter and See Now Then. She teaches at Harvard University…

ART FOREVER FLOWERS Paper artist Susan Beech's beautifully delicate crepe-paper flowers and botanical sculptures are uncannily realistic. Each petal is intricately shaped by hand, and then coloured with ink, pastels and paint to create a soft gradation of colour. She's already well known to many for the works she has created for clients such as the National Trust and Nature Conservancy, and shares her skills in workshops around the UK. She has now launched a collection of framed botanical artworks. Prices start at £295 for a single paper rose or dahlia, rising to £7,950 for the vibrant sweet pea piece, Strong Entanglement (shown above). apetalunfolds.com Talking point ARE GARDENS NOW ON TREND? Forget haute couture – it's all about hort couture right now as the fashion and gardening worlds come…

LYTHRUM SALICARIA ‘ZIGEUNERBLUT’ A clump-forming perennial with a woody base, known for its competitive vigour and wildlife benefits – the summer foliage on stiff branching stems is most exciting to caterpillars. Striking magenta flowers, densely arranged on long spikes, attract long-tongued insects such as the brimstone butterfly and the elephant hawk-moth. I prefer threading individual plants through wet areas rather than large drifts, as those can be too intense for the eye, especially in the midday sun. Height and spread 1.2m x 50cm. Origin Natural selection (species Europe, including Britain, and Asia). Conditions Moist, moderately humus-rich, well-drained to wet soil; full sun to part shade. Tolerates periods of drought. Hardiness RHS H7, USDA 4a-9b†. Season of interest July – September. FILIPENDULA RUBRA ‘VENUSTA’ An upright perennial with a tough root system that is best…

• Rosceas are best planted as freshly lifted tubers from mid-April to mid-July, or as containerised plants at any time of year. • Plant at a depth of 10-15cm, with the crown facing upwards and tubers pointing downwards, in humus-rich, free-draining compost that holds moisture in summer but isn't waterlogged in winter. Roscoeas need plenty of water when in growth, so water before the onset of drought if needed. Fork in sharp sand, grit and wellrotted organic matter to improve growing conditions on heavier soils and allow to settle before planting. They will tolerate acidic or alkaline conditions, though a pH of around 6.5 is considered best. • Ideally, plant in dappled or part shade, which provides light for the shoots, but keeps roots cool and moist. In dry air…

I filled my time with foraging, perusing hedgerows and finding ways to preserve the produce from this wonderful world around me I get overly excited about seasonal gluts: an armful of rhubarb gifted by a neighbour or a sticky Tupperware box filled with raspberries still full of disgruntled bugs. This bounty prompts exchanges and sharing, storytelling and creativity; all beautiful ways to connect with each other and the world around us. I've felt compelled to eat seasonally and sustainably for a long time, but more so since working with Fareshare South West, a charity striving to reduce food waste at the same time as redirecting this surplus towards the people who need it most. After completing a creative writing degree and unwittingly falling into cooking, I worked in restaurant kitchens,…

DOWNTOOLS BOOKS Richard Mabey loves this dance, the one between culture and nature. He's spent the best part of half a century waltzing across it. And you could pick any one of his 40 or so books and find an erudite, witty, very well-referenced argument for embracing the wild. Long before rewilding or ‘nature writing’ became such categories, Mabey was pointing out that weeds are very interesting and probably best not observed as unwanted (in his books Flora Britannica, Food for Free, Weeds, A Brush with Nature to name but a few), that the abandoned spaces often have an inherent beauty when nature is allowed to play (The Unofficial Countryside, The Flowering of Britain, The Cabaret of Plants) and all of this is very good for us, though sometimes when…