How to decorate your summer house

Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University are partnering with us in our technology addiction project that stands alongside our 'Chained to Tech' garden design. At RHS Tatton Flower Show, researchers will be surveying guests to gauge their attitudes and perceptions towards our garden.

Iris ‘Benton Olive’ in Sarah Price's garden

Set back on an 11-acre property in Surrey is the faded-brick Arts and Crafts house that once belonged to the influential British horticulturalist, garden designer and writer, Gertrude Jekyll VMH, Munstead Wood. Gertude was the first woman to be awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honour – the most prominent of awards for British horticulturalists – following an illustrious career during which she “transformed horticultural practice and inspired others to become gardeners through her books and more than 1,000 articles,” says the National Trust. Designed by her frequent collaborator Sir Edward Lutyens, the house is a charming emblem of classic English Arts and Crafts design and, thanks to Gertrude's own talents in gardening and floriculture, the house's garden is a “horticultural gem.”

During the Victorian era, there was a craze in the British Isles for ferns. Ferns were collected from the wild (often sadly to the point of destroying precious habitats) and grown in gardens and homes, often in specialist planting schemes called ferneries, where numerous species could be displayed and enjoyed.

I have a dorky habit to confess. Whenever my to-go iced coffee is finished, I dump the ice from my reusable cup into the dirt of a street tree. It’s probably like half a cup of water, and I am sure it doesn’t make a difference, but I can’t not do it.

A former AIB banker-turned-gardener says he feels “like a five-year-old getting presents” after winning a major award as well as a prestigious gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London.

Q: Some time ago I planted a number of Tropaeolum ciliatum along a privet hedge. Over the years it has covered the hedge and is now choking it, and has spread to planting on the adjacent road.

Is there any better feeling than a successful summer garden party? All your friends in one place, laughing and socialising in the summer sun. What's not to love?

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An abundance of late summer fruits calls for a jam recipe. A simple jam recipe from Selina Lake will make the most of an abundant plum or damson harvest.

Have you ever wondered about the bundles of bamboo stems you see for sale just about everywhere, from novelty stores to warehouse clubs?They’re called “lucky bamboo,” and despite their ubiquitous presen

James Lloyd-Jones photographed at his company’s Innovation Centre in Bristol, where different crops and new technology are trialled