Oh, Chelsea, Chelsea, you really shouldn’t be distracting me so. But you are, and I’ve admitted defeat. Chelsea it is. Continue reading
Category: Garden Reviews
Chelsea 2017 Best in Show: James Basson’s The M&G Garden
Us humans are complex things. And if there’s one thing my Master of Horticulture analysis has taught me, gardens are not lacking in that department either. Put them together and you’ve got a real muddle. Continue reading
Rousham House and Garden
In 2011, Paul and I considered buying The Old Bank in sleepy Bungendore, New South Wales. A stunning stone building, developed through the 1800s, its history not only spans uses as a residence and bank, but also one of a blacksmith’s, solicitor’s, bakery, stock and station store and a bicycle maker, where the first bike in Australia is said to have been made. Continue reading
Peckerwood Garden Insider’s Tour, Texas
Peckerwood Garden, just outside Houston, is a garden fuelled by passion. John Fairey, a former professor of architecture, put the first plant in the ground in 1971 and still lives and gardens here today, albeit with considerable help now the garden has grown to some 40 acres. Continue reading
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin
What images spring to mind when you think of Texas? Perhaps dry, cracked soils, a few scrubby, grey-leaved shrubs and the odd towering cactus? Continue reading
Fernkloof Reserve and Gardens, South Africa
Sadly, for me at least, I’ve just two final places in South Africa to share with you. Until such time as I manage to get back out there again, of course! Continue reading
Babylonstoren, South Africa
‘We had to call in the chicken consultant’, roared Constance. ‘You know, if you’ve got a problem with your business you call in a business consultant; well we had problems with our chickens. They stopped laying’, she boomed. ‘You see these salad leaves dangling from the beams? That’s our chicken gym. Now the chickens have to jump for their food, they lay every day’, she bellowed, with a beaming smile. Continue reading
Vergelegen Estate Gardens, South Africa
If you are anything like me, you might at this point be sitting, brow furrowed, wondering how on earth you pronounce ‘Vergelegen’. It’s almost impossible to even have a go at it. And after hearing the word many, many times, I still had to just cheat and watch a youtube clip to be reminded. It’s something like, ‘Fair-ke-lear-ken’. Obvious, really. Continue reading
Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire
I think this daffodil sums up English winters for me: Continue reading
Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Cape Town
Imagine a garden, over 500 hectares in size and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A garden which scores an average of 4.8 out of 5 across some 894 Google reviews and a garden situated in one of the most florally diverse regions in the world. It’s a pretty good bet I couldn’t stay away for long. Continue reading
