Category Archives: England
Garden festival planner: Chelsea Flower show
Chelsea is the prize bloom of the world’s garden shows, and the reputation is well-deserved. Here Robin Powell shares her observations on what has been another breath-taking Chelsea Flower Show. Once a year the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea,…
Roses at Wisley
Words and images: Robin Powell There’s a spicy smell of rose in the air, and the sound of happy bees. Full-petalled pink blooms decorate a rose bush that reaches over over my shoulder. At its feet brilliant daylilies open their…
In my garden: West Green House
Eight years ago Marylyn Abbott sold up her wonderful Southern Highlands garden, Kennerton Green, and moved to England to work full-time on a much bigger project – West Green House. Marylyn Abbott thinks big. She has big plans and the…
Garden Festival Planner: Hampton Court Flower Show
If the Chelsea Flower Show is the sophisticated sister, her younger sibling is bigger, more daring – and definitely friendlier. Here Linda Ross gives you her tips for turning a trip to Hampton Court Palace into a garden festival …
Stourhead – a great utopian masterpiece
The Enlightenment masterpiece of Henry Hoare, Stourhead has an aura of calm serenity. Here Robin Powell recounts her recent visit to one of the Stour Valley’s garden treasure We’ve seen this image thousands of times. It’s surely one of the…
The Hampton Court Flower Show Sisters
The biggest flower show on earth is held in July, in southwest London in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace. The sizzling temperatures of the Royal Horticultural Society summer show are matched by the steamy hot floral displays. You see,…
Lost in a tamed wilderness
Words & images by Colin Barlow Nestled on the border of England and Wales in Stapleton, Herefordshire lies a hidden gem, an Arts and Crafts garden where romance and formality meet the ‘wild garden’. I should have known that something…
Happy Birthday Capability
Robin Powell would like to wish a happy birthday to the grand architect of so many of our favourite English landscapes. This month marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. He’s the man responsible for the…