The English Garden

Enjoy over 60 beautiful gardens a year with The English Garden. Every issue features country, city, cottage and coastal gardens, with advice on how to recreate them. Be inspired by articles written by the country's top garden designers and discover the best plant varieties for your garden, chosen by expert nurserymen and plantspeople.

Welcome

CONTRIBUTORS

THE ENGLISH GARDEN

People to Meet • Introducing the gardeners and public figures we most admire in British horticulture

Alasdair’s favourite gardens

Out & About • Unmissable events, news and the very best gardens to visit this month

Things to Do • Keep up to date in the garden with our monthly guide to key gardening tasks from Troy Scott Smith, head gardener at Iford Manor

August checklist • Mow meadows, clip yew, and choose late-summer perennials

SHOPPING

The Fast SHOW • At Portmore House in the Scottish Borders, summer comes quickly and all at once. While a dazzlingly colourful high-season spectacular is guaranteed, year-round interest results from thoughtful planning

Setting THE TONE • Perennials and shrubs that tie in with Portmore’s pink and purple colour scheme

Self-Fulfilling PROPHECY • When the Fortescues named their Devonshire home The Garden House in the 1940s, they knew they could create a garden to earn the name, and their idyllic vision of formal and naturalistic planting is now being shaped by head gardener Nick Haworth

Practically PERFECT • A vast array of choice perennials and shrubs makes The Garden House a must for plant lovers

Art In Motion • Bella Hoare has turned her artist’s eye to her immersive garden at Gasper Cottage in Wiltshire, creating a living, breathing canvas where movement and exceptional colour combinations are order of the day

Perennial BEAUTY • Colourful blooms that add highlights to the textured planting at Gasper Cottage

Garden PHILOSOPHY • Bella’s sound advice on the combination of planning and acceptance that is key to success

Building On THE PAST • At Alderwood in Kent, interior designer Helen Pink and garden designer Bonnie Lamont have skilfully layered colour and form over the visible bones of the 14 acres of formal garden and grounds that once formed part of the Redleaf estate

Flower POWER • Meadow classics and border delights add charming form and colour at Alderwood

Practical ADVICE • Summer gardening tips from Alderwood House

SECRETS OF SUCCESS • With its firm structure and confident planting, the garden at Mulberry House is wonderfully at home in its Wye Valley setting, despite its relative youth

Border PATROL • Tina Barber shares her advice on keeping soil in good condition and staying on top of weeds

Let There Be Light • Arabella St. John Parker shares expert advice on how to illuminate your garden and its features, helping you make the most of your outdoor space when night falls

Good Resources

Nature First • At the colourful Yeo Valley Organic Garden in Somerset, Sarah Mead always makes wildlife a priority, using plants that look good and do their bit for nature

Ring the Changes • Louise Curley explores all the diverse forms the bellflower genus, Campanula, has to offer, with the help of Jeremy Palmer at Burton Agnes Hall

Beautiful bells • Tips from Burton Agnes Hall’s head gardener Jeremy Palmer on caring for campanulas

Head Turners • Hailing from the Americas, cheery sunflowers are now a food industry staple as well as a garden standard

HOW TO GROW

Green Credentials • Max Crisfield delves into the lush green foliage that now fills Borde Hill’s transformed Round Dell, thanks to an inspired redesign by Sophie Walker

Make a Meal of It...