Gardens Illustrated Magazine July 2021

As we were putting together this issue, world leaders were gathered for the G7 summit in Cornwall. Much of the debate considered climate change and the increasing evidence of a climate emergency. We await tangible outcomes of the meeting, but in the meantime, we can all play our part in our homes and just as importantly in our gardens. Key to us achieving more sustainable and environmentally aware gardens is a reset in our aesthetic expectations of what a garden should look like. In this issue, established designer Mary Keen reveals her new garden, just off the high street of a small town on the edge of the Cotswolds but gardened very much with a looser, wilder appeal. “I hope it’s a place to be lost in, even though it is…

Non Morris Non visits designer Mary Keen’s new garden, page 34. “Mary Keen’s garden exerted a magnetic pull from my first glimpse of her radiant courtyard through the kitchen windows.” June Blake June offers exciting planting ideas, sharing the bold combinations she uses in her Irish garden, page 74. “These are the plants and colours that fill my borders from late summer to autumn.” Lisa Linder Lisa photographs ceramicist Kaori Tatebayashi, page 94. “It was such a treat to meet the hugely talented Kaori. Her ceramics are absolutely exquisite, and watching her work was so inspiring.”…

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…

Jimi Blake is the owner and enthusiastic gardener at Hunting Brook Gardens in County Wicklow. The garden is renowned for its modern and inventive plantings, and Jimi’s plant choices always excite and delight. This is where you’ll start your tour and Jimi will talk you through the garden’s seasonal highlights and his approach to plant combinations. The tour continues with Jimi taking you on to his sister June Blake’s small but painterly garden in Tinode (see page 74), and then the garden of gardening doyenne Helen Dillon, who has recently transposed her ideas, developed over several decades, to a new and smaller space. You’ll also discover the beautifully meditative garden Patthana, and the varied garden of Ardán, impressively located on the hilly peninsula overlooking Dublin Bay. Visits to these and…

A beautiful patchwork of colour and texture, Yeo Valley Organic Garden is one of the UK’s largest organic ornamental gardens certified by the Soil Association. It has been created by Sarah Mead over the past 30 years and occupies six-and-a-half acres around the family home on the Yeo Valley Organic farm. It is also the inspiration behind Yeo Valley Organic’s show garden at this year’s much-anticipated RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Designed by award-winning garden designer Tom Massey in collaboration with Sarah Mead, the garden will offer a rich tapestry of flowering plants that encourage wildlife, support pollinators and nurture soil health. It features an open perennial meadow brimming with flowering plants, walls made of biochar logs that highlight the importance of keeping carbon in the soil, and a hand-crafted wooden hide…

Evenings to enjoy This summer there’s a chance to see the gardens of Hestercombe House and Gardens, near Taunton in Somerset, in a completely different light. For its Summer Lates season, Hestercombe will open every Wednesday evening between 5pm and 8pm until 29 September, allowing visitors to explore the historic house and its 50 acres of gardens after it would normally have closed to the public. As well as offering an after-hours glimpse of the remarkable gardens, laid out in the early 20th century by Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens, the Summer Lates season is also an opportunity to enjoy some entertainment and outdoor food, including barbecues, wood-fired pizza and themed menus. Plus, on selected dates, Hestercombe’s Edwardian punt will also be out on the Pear Pond for visitors to glide…