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Join us… Discover the Cotswolds and meet Adam Frost on our new reader tour. The highlight is a visit to Thenford, Michael and Anne Heseltine’s private garden. Hurry as places are limited, see p116. Discover… how to make the most of a tiny plot with our guide to Small Space Gardening, a 132-page special. Buy yours in selected stores nationwide, or have it delivered. From £7.99. gardenersworld.com/gw-special-editions Listen up… Season 2 of our podcast is completing this month, with new episodes from Carol, Monty and Raymond Blanc. Find us on Apple, Spotify and gardeners world.com/podcast Save… as you visit gardens this year with our 2021 2 for 1 Entry Card and Guide – order yours for £6.99 by going to bit.ly/GWMay-gw-MG Save even more... Subscribe today at £9.99 for six issues and receive our…

welcome

While the roller-coaster of frosty nights and brighter days this spring turned every gardener into an obsessive weather-watcher (or was that just me?), the warming hug of June sees our gardens shifting gear. Summer’s here – and outdoor living becomes reality. So we’ve all you need in this issue to help you create a memorable summer outdoors in your garden. Discover the homegrown food to start now and our readymade recipes for summer pots, plus creative ideas that’ll make your garden a place to relax and escape into – whether as a quiet retreat or a venue for those longed-for gatherings of family and friends. The other visitors we’re welcoming as never before is wildlife – and it’s influencing the way we garden today. Whether new to gardening or seasoned grower, you’re…

we love june

“June is bustin’ out all over All over the meadow and the hill”Oscar Hammerstein STAR OF THE MONTH Astrantia ‘Roma’ This is one of the best plants ever invented and it goes well with lots of summery stuff (roses in particular). The starry pincushion flowers remind me of Space Dust – paper packets of sherbet crystals from years ago that exploded on the tongue, like eating a handful of sugary firecrackers. There is no particular logic to this feeling but that’s just the way it is! The pink flowers keep on rolling for most of the summer. The only modest problem I have is that it sulks a bit if it gets too dry. Give it deep, fertile soil and this plant will be forever happy. Propagate by dividing plants. Astrantias also come…

chase the rainbow

With so many colours in our fabulous plant world, I challenged myself to find one to represent every colour of the rainbow, just in time for Pride month! I echoed the rainbow motif with curved planting, and set it off against a jet black container (elho.com, £99) that has wheels, making it easy to move about and brighten different parts of the garden. I planted in waves, from red, orange and yellow to green, blue and then purple, and had fun seeking out exact shades for the blue and violet. Dense planting creates instant impact and most perennials will continue to flower through the summer. At the end of the season, you can transplant them into borders so the rainbow lives on. For lots more container ideas, see Love your summer pots,…

expert ’s choice calendulas

Calendulas are intriguing plants. Often called pot marigolds, because they were once grown in pots for their medicinal and culinary use, their Latin name, Calendula officinalis , confirms this – ‘officinalis’ denotes plants used in medicine or cooking. But this cheerful hardy annual flower is also known as the English marigold, having been grown in English gardens since at least 955 – yes 955, not 1955. And although plants have escaped from gardens and established themselves in the countryside since the middle of the 19th century, this is not a native English, or even British, wildflower – in fact, the English marigold is thought to have been created in gardens as it has no natural wild home, so it’s not native anywhere. For most of their time in gardens, English marigolds…

the full monty

A few weeks ago I bought eight pre-grown yew domes for the Cottage Garden. They look terrific and were hard-earned money well spent. While not huge, they are 10 years old, and have the solidity and density that only age can bring. But I feel that I have cheated a little. It is like dipping a toe into a make-over, with its instant gardening territory. I can rationalise that – after all, I have happily bought 18 largish Irish yews for the Herb Garden in recent years, as well as large olive and citrus trees for the Paradise Garden. I can also justify it in terms of design in the same way that we build steps or lay paths. The yew domes exist to add form, now that the box hedges…