Gardens Illustrated Magazine September 2021

Following two postponements, first in May 2020 and again in May 2021, it’s exciting to have the RHS Chelsea Flower Show ahead of us this month. This will be the first time in its 108-year history that the show hasn’t been held in May. What a fantastic opportunity to showcase another season’s planting, to discover new nurseries that specialise in late-flowering plants, and consider how our attitudes to our gardens have developed as a result of the rigours of the past 18 months. We highlight some of the most exciting gardens to feature at this year’s show, talking to the designers about their show gardens and the late-summer planting palette now open to them – tawny grasses, jewel-like dahlias, bright heleniums and blazing rudbeckias. There are bound to be new favourites…

Suzie Gibbons Suzie photographs Tara Macdonald’s small garden, page 76. “Plantswoman Tara has created a magical space, using wonderful plant combinations and a cornucopia of sumptuous colour.” Ngoc Minh Ngo US-based photographer Ngoc shoots the garden of potter Frances Palmer, page 80. “Frances’s garden is much like everything she makes, beautiful and utterly unique.” Annie Gatti Annie picks out the highlights of this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, page 101. “I’m really looking forward to seeing how this year’s designers and exhibitors tackle the challenges of showing in September.”…

James Basson James lives in the South of France where he runs Scape Design with his wife Helen, specialising in low-maintenance and dry gardens. He is a fervent advocate for creating sustainable landscapes. The winner of four Chelsea Gold medals, he was awarded Best in Show in 2017. Fergus Garrett Fergus was appointed head gardener at Great Dixter by Christopher Lloyd in 1993. He is passionate about passing on his knowledge through student programmes at Dixter and worldwide lectures. He was awarded an RHS Associate of Honour in 2008 and an RHS Victoria Medal of Honour in 2019. Anna Pavord Anna’s books include her bestseller The Tulip and most recently Landskipping. For 30 years she was The Independent’s gardening correspondent. In 2000 the RHS awarded her the Veitch Memorial Medal. She lives and gardens in…

For 2022, our popular rose tour travels over the Channel to investigate the story of the French rose and enjoy some truly wonderful gardens and rose collections. Starting with a visit with the curator of Roseraie du Val-de-Marne in L’Haÿ-les-Roses, you’ll come to understand more about the vast array of French roses and the development of the roses we grow in our gardens today. You will also visit collections of wild roses; a specialist rose nursery producing beautiful new roses each year; a village overflowing with roses; a fairy-tale château where the discerning owner has surrounded her home with sumptuous roses; as well as some intimate private gardens where roses steal the show. This is an unmissable opportunity to stroll from rose to rose discussing the merits of under-planting, mulching,…

Floral finesse A September date isn’t the only change to this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. A new Floristry & Floral Design Competition combines the Florist of the Year and Floral Arrangement competitions and will take centre stage in the Great Pavilion. Under an overall concept of ‘Our World’, the designs will focus on four themes: Pollination and the Beauty of Nature, in which the larger floral installations will compete, and British Blooms and Preservation, which include smaller designs filling floral windows. Trudie Easton’s imaginative interpretation of the use of healing plants in medicine, which features a tree spiralling upwards, like a strand of DNA, will compete in the Beauty of Nature category. In the Preservation category, JamJar Edit, known for its stunning pressed flowers (above) will create an illuminated window…

Bright future It may seem a little premature to be planning next year’s summer borders, even before the last of this year’s swallows has packed its bags, but the new range of seeds for Suttons has some eye-catching options to plant out in spring for stunning borders come summer. Among those to look out for are Helianthus annuus ‘Tiger’s Eye’ (above), a bi-coloured sunflower with a ring of orange ray florets whose tips are almost yellow, and Eschscholzia californica ‘Lady Marmalade’, a Californian poppy, with fragrant, double flowers that resemble a rose and are a big draw for bees and hoverflies. Sunflower seeds cost £3.99 for 12, while the poppy seeds are £2.99 for 130. Find these and the full range at suttons.co.uk Making time for nature Following the unveiling of plans last…