Tokachi Millennium Forest

Following World War II, Japan went through a period of huge redevelopment and change in traditional ways with the expansion of electrical, gas, water and sewage services, the building of railways and expressways and the consequent move away from the traditional firewood and charcoal to the use of fossil fuels. The satoyama forests, that area …

Gardening with a Curl!

"I know a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead And when she was good, she was very very good but when she was bad, she was horrid!" So went the old rhyme and so it is with rock gardens- those that are well constructed and well planted …

Gardens under Big Skies – Noel Kingsbury & Maayke de Ridder

This has been my most enjoyable gardening read in ages and certainly one of my top books of the year. It is one I recommend without hesitation. A large format book crammed with excellent photography showing wonderful gardens. Noel Kingsbury has been a frequent visitor to The Netherlands since the mid-1990s, initially to follow the …

The View from Federal Twist

This is the story of a gardener and a garden growing and developing together to create a modern American horticultural masterpiece. James Golden was approaching retirement when he purchased a property in western New Jersey, USA, because the house “suited its setting” and “had an intimate relationship with the place”. He had immediately sensed the …

The Jungle Garden – A Review.

Philip Oostenbrink writes of the jungle style of garden which has become very popular over recent years especially so with those who have relatively small garden space attached to an urban house for it creates an area of sanctuary, enclosure, privacy, of withdrawal and of transport to a setting which contrasts completely with today’s dense …

Olivier Filippi – Bringing the Mediterranean into your Garden.

  This is a remarkable book, a book of extraordinary depth and of marvellous inspiration. Olivier and Clara Filippi have run a nursery, specialising in Mediterranean plants, in the south of France for over thirty years. They have travelled the world to study the plants of dry-climate regions and have made an in-depth examination of …

A Radical Shift in Perspective

Instead of engaging in a constant battle to adapt our gardens to suit plants would it not be better to search for plants that suit our gardens? This would require a radical shift in perspective which has much to recommend it and Olivier Filippi’s book, The Dry Gardening Handbook, will certainly convince you of the …

Planting the Oudolf Garden at Hauser & Wirth Somerset

The Swiss couple, Iwan and Manuela Wirth built the Hauser & Wirth Art Gallery on what was an abandoned farm on the outskirts of Bruton in Somerset and commissioned Piet Oudolf to design the gardens around it. From the beginning they made it clear that they didn’t want a garden to simply accompany the gallery …

A Beautiful Obsession

In his seventeen years at Huntingbrook Garden, Jimi Blake has cut a dash through the traditional herbaceous border, the shrub border, the woodland garden and is leading the way in Irish horticulture with his innovative approach to gardening, with his new plant trials and introductions but, most of all, in the manner in which he …

Seeking the Elusive Emotive Element in Garden Design

Nigel Dunnett wants his gardens to reach those parts that other gardens cannot reach. In his thoughts, plans, designs and creations he aims to go beyond that found in most gardens; he wishes to create something which will elicit an emotional response – a basic human response deeper than the simple appreciation of beauty, of …