The English Garden Spring 2022

Jack Wallington Jack is a landscape designer and writer who’s created over 70 gardens, from tiny city balconies to country estates, specialising in modern gardens with wildlife friendly planting. He visits a London garden on p24. Rachel Warne Award-winning photographer Rachel has been shooting gardens, often for major garden designers, for over 15 years. She’s worked on ten books and shot Ann-Marie Powell’s own garden on p40. Marianne Majerus Marianne photographs beautiful gardens across Europe. Her work is published in books and magazines worldwide and she has won numerous awards. Her photographs appear in our features on pages 24 and 58. IMAGES NEIL HEPWORTH; MARIANNE MAJERUS; SARAH CUTTLE…

I always enjoy bringing you our Spring issue, which has become our regular ‘small gardens’ special. This time, it includes gardens by talented designers such as Jane Brockbank, Declan Buckley and Miles Raybould, as well as a glimpse into Ann-Marie Powell’s own garden at home – in terms of size, a complete contrast to the enormous gardens she’s recently designed at RHS Wisley, but full of joyful colour and a very real sense of the passion that’s gone into its creation. Then, for added inspiration if space is tight, after letting us glimpse his container-filled garden in Nottingham, Arthur Parkinson shares foolproof recipes for summer pots. We also visit Rotherview Nursery and find out how to create landscapes in miniature with alpines in troughs, and we explore the Muscari genus: little…

IN FLOWER NOW Primula auricula Surely one of the most beautiful of all flowers, auriculas look like miniature paintings come to life. It is no wonder that these diminutive spring plants were one of the original ‘florists’ flowers’, competitively grown from the 18th century, with auricula ‘fanciers’ rejoicing in the variation among the increasing number of varieties: green edges, a centre of white meal or ‘paste’, stripes and double flowers. These ‘show’ auriculas, like ‘Adrian’ (pictured above), need cosseting; to enjoy the beauty of auricula flowers in a more laid-back way, try ‘border’ auriculas, which are much hardier.…

Sarah Cook Sissinghurst’s former head gardener holds the National Collection of Irises bred by Sir Cedric Morris and is responsible for a revived interest in both his plants and his art I’ve been gardening since I was three. My parents were gardeners so I just assumed it was something everybody did. After university I didn’t know what to do, so I moved down to Cornwall to work as a mobile fishmonger. One day, a customer told me: “I think you should be a gardener.” I was offered a job on a large estate in Cornwall – and that was it. After four years I got a job at Kew, which led to a decent horticultural qualification. The next step was Sissinghurst. I love the artistry and history of the garden. There’s an array…

Upton House Warwickshire Upton, where I worked as head gardener, has a patchwork of styles from across the eras, from the 12th-century ‘Monk’s Well’ grotto to the 18th-century lake and formal gardens designed in the 20th century. Tel: 01295 670266; nationaltrust.org.uk Floors Castle Scottish Borders This wonderful place is just north of the Anglo-Scottish border, so people tend to drive straight up and miss it! It has so many interesting elements: a wonderful old walled garden and a formal garden created to mark the millennium. Tel: 01573 223333; floorscastle.com IMAGES GAP/HOWARD RICE; NATIONAL TRUST/JAMES DOBSON; DAVID F COOKE…

RHS Malvern Spring Festival 5-8 May, Worcestershire The trailblazer for the RHS flower show season, this four-day festival enjoys the beautiful Malvern Hills as its backdrop. The 35th festival, back after a two-year break, promises much celebration, championing the positive physical and mental benefits of gardening and the upcoming Platinum Jubilee. Visitors can admire ‘The Jubilee Garden’, a permanent new feature garden planted with the Sovereign’s favourite plants, as well as a ‘Floral Green’ with an array of cut flowers from British growers, stands by some of the UK’s finest nurseries, a ‘Festival Theatre’ hosting talks from horticulturists, and much more. Tel: 03443 385400; rhsmalvern.co.uk State of Britain’s Hedgehogs Report A new-for-2022 report by wildlife charities People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) has revealed that Britain’s hedgehog…