Gardens Illustrated Magazine September 2022

By the time you read this our gardens will hopefully have been refreshed by a reasonable amount of the right sort of rain and our water butts replenished. Our countryside and rivers will be reviving to a more familiar, now oh-so precious green landscape. More and more ‘new-style’ gardens have been appearing in our pages - those with drought-tolerant planting, with bioswales to cope with flooding, with an aesthetic that responds more to the wider landscape rather than fighting it - but it often takes an event, such as the recent drought and really seeing the effects first hand, to properly shift our thinking. Hopefully, we are all keen to play our part and much of this comes down to the willingness to change and to trying to do things differently. In…

Stephanie Donaldson Stephanie visits Tillingham Winery, page 40. “An inspiring example of how a seemingly hostile environment can support planting that thrives on no water.” Rachel Warne Rachel photographs a London garden, page 76. “What struck me about this garden was the way that Miria Harris has linked the Victorian house with its modern extension; it doesn't jar, it flows.” Tom Eaglestone Tom is one of three leading designers who suggests ideas for planting a spring meadow with bulbs, page 80. “Planting a bulb meadow is such an exciting and rewarding thing to do.” 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 is a fervent advocate for creating sustainable landscapes. The winner of four Chelsea Gold medals, he was awarded Best…

How to save our trees The summer's record temperatures brought the reality of our changing climate sharply into focus, and made it all the more worrying that, according to the 2021 State of the World's Trees Report, one in three tree species is threatened with extinction in the wild. More than 100 of these threatened species can be found at Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire, which has produced a new guide, The Little Book of Disappearing Trees, to highlight the dangers affecting tree populations - one of the planet's best defences against climate chaos - and show how we all can help protect them. It costs £4.95 from the Westonbirt Shop (fowa.org.uk). You can also read more about the at-risk trees at gardensillustrated.com/plants/trees/extinction-risk-trees…

SEASONAL SHIFT To celebrate the autumnal equinox, Heckfield Place in Hampshire is hosting The Assembly, a programme of events that encapsulates the turn of the seasons. On 17 September, award-winning landscape and garden designers David and Harry Rich (right) will be giving a talk on A Sense of Place, an idea central to their design ethos. On 18 September there will be a basket-weaving workshop with Felicity Irons, and at dusk a walk around the estate with author Louisa Thomsen Brits, whose book Path explores the connection between humans and landscape, heckfieldplace.com…

The Plant Fairs Roadshow is heading to the beautiful gardens created by Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson at Sissinghurst Castle this month. This special event, in support of the National Garden Scheme, offers the chance to browse some of the South East's best specialist nurseries, including Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants, Copton Ash and Daisy Roots, and also explore this iconic garden with its famous White Garden and newly reimagined Delos Garden. 18 September, llam-3pm. plant-fairs.co.uk…

Create Academy is launching two new online courses with Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld (right), better known as The Land Gardeners. First up is A Year of Cut Flowers, which will focus on growing flowers foryear-round cutting, followed by How to Heal Your Soil, drawing on the pair's research into compost and soil health. Both cost £127 but Gardens Illustrated readers can win full lifetime access to one of the courses by entering our online competition at gardensillustrated.com/competitions…