Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2025 i The English Garden

Natasha Goodfellow Natasha is a writer and curator of events including the Beautiful & Useful craft fair at London’s Garden Museum. She visits an apothecary garden designed by Sue Townsend on page 33. Tamsin Westhorpe Tamsin works at her family garden Stockton Bury in Herefordshire. She is an author, RHS judge, and a former editor of The English Garden magazine. She visits Stokesay Flowers on page 52. Andy McIndoe Garden consultant and designer Andy has 50 years’ experience in retail and production horticulture. He’s also a writer and lecturer specialising in trees and shrubs. He recommends deutzia on page 109.…

Marian Boswall The landscape architect, agroecology coach and author on how regenerative practices are at the heart of everything she does I trained as a landscape architect 25 years ago, and I’ve always practised sustainably: you don’t go in as an ‘I am’ – you involve many clients, from humans, to birds and bees, to trees and soil. The aim is to create a better place for all living beings. At Marian Boswall Landscape Architects we work on everything from large-scale estates to small gardens. We always want to connect things: a hedgerow can be a wildlife corridor, or a pond a haven for aquatic life. One project was for Kentish winery Domaine Evremond where we planted chalk banks with wildflowers, grass, hedgerows and native trees. We added a pond…

“If ever we can’t find my husband Bruce, the kids know to go and look for him in the greenhouse,” says Catrina Holme, laughing. “He’s always in there, sowing seeds or just pottering about. The greenhouse and the veggie beds are definitely his happy places.” The kitchen garden is just one small part of Sue Townsend’s design for this garden in the Berkshire countryside, which has resulted in a plethora of happy places for the whole family. There’s the large lawn, where the family plays ‘bumpy croquet’ and where their daughter Etty celebrated her 16th birthday in a marquee erected for the occasion. The firepit, built on some hardstanding left by the previous owners, is the place for nighttime stargazing, while a terrace and a table tennis area designed especially…

Irene Thomson has a dream. A passionate plantswoman on a tight budget, she dreams of being able to visit a nursery with an unlimited amount to spend: “I wish I had a big budget,” she says. I would buy any plant I liked, that would be my dream.” It’s a dream, she admits, her family doesn’t quite share. “There really isn’t room for any more plants. I’ve been told not to touch the paths in the front lawn and I’ve had to be tempted away from planting the croquet lawn.” The tennis court, however, is succumbing inch by inch. Known to her brother, James, and her son, the artist Peter McLaren, as ‘the Phantom Digger’, Irene has spent the past 40 years digging and planting the five-acre garden surrounding Glassmount,…

Use a garden room to enhance the pleasure of your garden in all seasons. From conservatories that open onto gardens in summer but double as propagating spaces in winter, to quirky stand-alone caravans that extend warm days and are cosy in cooler weather, there’s a building to suit every budget and style of garden. Rooms that extend ‘Don’t move, improve!’ is a line that will often lead to a conservatory extension, and it’s true that conservatories can add valuable space to reception areas that may have come to feel a little cramped. Before you commit to a conservatory though, give some thought to what you’d like to use it for. Without a specific function, it can quickly turn into a messy no-man’s land of school satchels, outdoor shoes and dog…

For almost 30 years, Valerie Finnis was a distinguished and charismatic teacher at the Waterperry Horticultural school for Women, near Oxford, founded in 1932 by the fearsomely smocked and gaitered Beatrix Havergal. Miss Havergal believed in the wholesome benefits of practical labour and Finnis, who arrived there as a student in 1942 – she was just 18 years old – had many vivid recollections of the 25-acre field into which she was pitched with two Land Girls. Learning to drive the Ferguson tractor was her first great triumph. She said it was one of the first tractor models that Ferguson ever made. Alpine plants became her great speciality and when, after the Second World War, Finnis decided to stay on as a teacher at Waterperry, she set up a nursery…

I write this having recently returned from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which, as it tends to do most years, has induced feelings of inferiority in me. It’s always the way after seeing the show gardens with their perfect planting. I get home and view my own garden with an even more critical and dissatisfied eye! Even though I know show gardens are confected ‘fakes’ (although no less skilful for it) and my garden represents reality – none of its plants are more than four years old, quite a lot was only planted last year, and we’ve had one of the driest springs ever, which doesn’t help – I can’t help comparing them. Perhaps I should be less hard on it, but if you’re like me and feel there’s room…

Summer is here, the air is balmy, cards are being played around the table and drinks are being joyfully poured – perhaps with a snack or two. It would be a waste not to make the most of outdoor socialising, and a round table provides the most convivial setting for al fresco drinks. Viticcio Round Dining Table (£495) and Dining Chairs (£195 each). Tel: 03330 042042; oka.com…

Held in the gentle embrace of the verdant West Wiltshire landscape, Great Chalfield Manor is a vision of medieval beauty, its mellow stonework glowing in the warm July sun. Here visitors are greeted by a perfect grouping, with the house and its adjacent 14th-century church reflected in an ancient millpond, the edges softened by a fringe of reeds and bulrushes. The scene is accompanied by a chorus of birdsong from the surrounding trees, making it a place that transports visitors back to a simpler, more tranquil age. Built in the late 15th century, this National Trust property, near Melksham, is home to Robert and Patsy Floyd, who moved in 40 years ago. It was Robert’s great-grandfather who bought the manor in 1878; Robert’s grandfather Robert Fuller then restored the house…

In August 2022, Andy Mills was appointed head gardener at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. Blenheim has been home to the Dukes of Marlborough since 1705 and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. Blenheim’s 90 acres of formal gardens, created over the centuries by designers such as Henry Wise and Achille Duchêne, reflect a journey through the horticultural styles of the ages. Since his appointment, Andy has been researching the garden’s history to help formulate ambitious plans to transform the gardens and restore myriad features that have been lost over the decades. Here he picks out ten good candidates for foliage in shady conditions. Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1UL. Tel: 01993 810530; blenheimpalace.com 1 Viburnum x juddii “This is one of the best viburnums for spring scent,” says Andy.…

For many gardeners, midsummer is the highlight of the year when bountiful borders brim with blowsy blooms jostling for space. But creating planting palettes that are both pleasing to the eye and feel vibrant is about more than gathering together a collection of plants that caught our eye at the garden centre. Combining colours tends to be the element of planting design that is given most attention. But there’s a particular trick that garden designers employ to create drama and interest – and that’s using contrasting flower shapes. Just as a limited range of colours could lack variation, a border planted with only daisy-shaped flowers, for instance, would be missing sufficient visual stimulation. However, add in the spires of foxgloves and the globes of echinops, for example, and the effect…

As a young girl, Polly Nicolaou was almost always to be found with her playthings under the kitchen table, such that her uncle would often sing, using her middle name: “Polly Mabel, under the kitchen table!” Little could anyone have guessed back then that the rhyme would one day provide her with a name for a business. Until last year, the adult Polly could still be found at the kitchen table, usually either breastfeeding or painting, she explains. Since then, however, she has enjoyed the comparative luxury of her own small studio a little way down the road from her home in Cheddar, Somerset. Although compact and rural – the building was once a pig pen – the studio is part of a “really creative little hub”. There’s also a…

It’s a truth somewhat universally acknowledged that we gardeners tend to travel rather hopefully through life, indefatigably looking forward to the season ahead and expectantly hoping for great things from both weather and garden. That ingrained optimism is needed now more than ever as high summer approaches, for these next couple of months are make or break, do or die for the 2025 summer season. We’ve savoured the rosy glow of May and June – the lush, fresh foliage, that fulsome first flush of roses – and the beds and borders have begun to billow rather nicely. But now the garden is getting its difficult second wind as it transitions from early summer to its full summer peak. It could be wonderfully benign, with gentle days and a spot of…

Wilstone Moorish Lantern Handmade in iron and glass and inspired by Moroccan designs. £100, burford.co.uk Perth White Garden Lantern Duo These 40cm and 26cm tall lanterns feature TruGlow candles. £69.99, lights4fun.co.uk La Rochelle Globe Lantern Rope and glass for a nautical theme. Small £79.95; large £115, annabeljames.co.uk Emaline Pink LED Table Lamps An art deco style lamp free from wires and plugs. From £22, grahamandgreen.co.uk Pothos Lantern – Rust A robust iron lantern with a rustic finish. Large £80; small £48, nkuku.com Garden Lanterns Hand-crafted in India, these green and pink geometric metal flower lanterns will cast a warm glow across your terrace after dark. £35 each, talkingtables.co.uk…

The National Garden Scheme has awarded many presentation trowels to gardeners who have opened their gates for charity for ten years, but I wonder how many have been earned across three different gardens? Jeremy and Trish Gibson, it seems, are members of a very select club. From the Mill House in Cornwall, via the Old Vicarage at Weare in Somerset to their current garden on the edge of the village of Stone Allerton, midway between Cheddar and the Bristol Channel, an energy and enthusiasm for garden-making threads through them all. Trish is the plantsperson and indefatigable propagator, while Jeremy is more design-led, mowing creative shapes into a succession of lawns, and keeping hedges crisp to contrast with Trish’s lush planting. Together they make a great team. In 2020, Jeremy, Trish…

When choosing a flowering shrub, a deutzia is rarely at the top of the list. Philadelphus are well known for their fragrance, everyone loves a lilac, many weigelas have the benefit of colourful foliage and rich trumpet-shaped blooms. Deutzias on the other hand are either white or a shade of pink. Some are fragrant, but not powerfully so. As young plants in pots at a garden centre they aren’t that captivating. But see a well-grown specimen in full bloom in a garden and it’s a different story. Arching branches are laden with sprays of delicate blooms set against soft green foliage. They can form a floriferous fountain rising over shrub roses, herbaceous geraniums, a cloud of thalictrum, the starry flowers of astrantias or flamboyant peonies. These easy-to-grow adaptable shrubs are…

Surrey-based garden designer Nic Howard has become well known for his romantic plant-filled gardens, which he’s been creating for clients across Surrey, Kent and Sussex since establishing his business in 2001. And if just one colour palette has become associated with his gardens, it’s dreamy shades of mauve, blue and purple. In a way, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, he explains: “Soft pastels are often the clients’ preference, and then new clients see our work and love what we do and want that look. In my early days my planting was more experimental, but then a certain style gains momentum.” Having recreated the style for clients across lots of gardens, Nic has honed this colour-themed planting palette to perfection. “It’s developed to be self-supporting for ease of maintenance and for biodiversity…

The Casa de Pilatos in Seville is one of my favourite gardens in the world. A wonderful series of elegant, slightly faded courtyards and loggias, exquisitely and abundantly decorated with richly pigmented paint and 500-year-old cuenca tiles, the whole a glorious backdrop to soaring palm trees and billowing bougainvillea and plumbago. Above all it is a masterclass in thinking about the garden from the interior of a building, about framing the view and luring the visitor from one part of the space to the next. I could be lured to this gorgeous Andalusian palace at just about any time of the year. It is a great place to visit on a fresh spring day. Better still, its cool, verdant courtyards will offer somewhere to sit and calm the spirit when…