One of the most loved holidays, Easter brings together friends and families to celebrate the idea of rebirth, good defeating evil and light breaking through the darkness, as well as end the Lent season with delicious meals.
26.07.2023 - 09:37 / houseandgarden.co.uk
Requiring less watering and weeding than any other type of garden, a gravel garden is ideal for anyone with a busy lifestyle. Comprising freely draining soil covered in gravel, through which suitable plants grow, the only effort required is in its creation; after that, this contemporary form of garden largely looks after itself.
The gravel acts as a mulch: sealing in moisture (which means less watering is required), protecting against frost, and forbidding the weeds. The stone also absorbs and holds a lot of heat from the sun and radiates it to the plants, creating a mini microclimate. As long as it is sharp gravel (rather than smooth shingle), it also deters plant nibblers (such as slugs and snails) and plant squashers (such as cats and dogs).
Inspired by stony, sun-baked regions, such as the garrigue of southern France, a gravel border purposefully has a slightly sparser look than most garden styles, with the stone being part of the show. The classic inspiration is the wonderful Gravel Garden at Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens in Essex, and one of the most recent examples is the Delos Garden at Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent, which has been superbly revamped by garden designer Dan Pearson.
Planted with species that hail from arid, warm regions (including the Mediterranean, South Africa, and California), a gravel garden can cope with extreme weather, continuing to produce a glorious succession of scent and colour throughout a scorching, dry summer.
The Delos Garden at Sissinghurst
Full sun is the main requirement for a gravel border. Shelter is not as important, as there is a wide range of drought-robust plants that cope with exposed sites. The ideal soil is very free-draining: for instance, sandy soil is ideal. Even a
One of the most loved holidays, Easter brings together friends and families to celebrate the idea of rebirth, good defeating evil and light breaking through the darkness, as well as end the Lent season with delicious meals.
Yes, we’re talking about mint! The breath-saving, tummy-taming, taste-boosting mint. At Fantastic Gardeners, we love this refreshing plant, and why wouldn’t we? It is fragrant, easy to grow, and has many beneficial uses in culinary arts, medicine, and cosmetics.
A fad in modern architecture and gardening or a necessity to bring back nature into industrialised densely built urban landscapes? Living green walls are becoming more and more popular, so we decided to explore the benefits, installation and maintenance process of these structures. Read on to find out how long they have been around, why so many buildings are having them, and how you can make one for your home.
In Yorkshire we are lucky to have several gardens designed using the theme of a Himalayan Garden. The Hut near Ripon at Grewlthorpe is  ‘The Himalayan Garden’ with all the plants you would expect in such a setting including
Britain has some of the best gardens in the world. The choice of which to visit is far larger than this selective list but at least it gives you somewhere to start planning this years outings.
In the cold wet winter it is a good time to plan where to visit as the year improves. The South West is the obvious place to start your visiting tour of gardens containing exotic plants.
‘The Garden of Reading: An Anthology of Twentieth-century Short Fiction About Gardens and Gardeners’ edited by Michele Slung.
Crevice gardens are all the rage at the moment. The careful alignment of rocks can create some interesting locations for alpine and rockery plants. They are also very good for helping wild life to thrive. See pictures of the Alpine Garden society rock supplier.
China is one of the great destinations for visiting gardens. The influence over garden design and the vast array of plants and flowers is secondary to the investment in time and dedication demonstrated in so many great locations. This is just a selection of those you may consider visiting if you can make the journey..
Peace is not just the absence of war it can be a reflection of a personal inner tranquility. To many gardeners peace may be a state of harmony with nature. It is a theme of several ‘hard landscape’ projects and sculptural works as shown by the selection of Peace gardens below.
Holland Park has some Zen like features but fails my Zen test. The classic elements of a successful Zen are stone, sand or gravel, water, plants and space. Then there is a question of balance between yin and yang. Cramped or cluttered gardens inhibit the flow of spirit so space is potentially the key ingredient of a Zen garden.
I was picking the Czar plums to make more jam when a wasp was disturbed from eating it’s lunch. Wasps go for my plums just as they are at their sweetest best. My problem was I couldn’t see which plums had a wasp in the fruit if they were above head height or facing away from my hand. The resulting sting set me on the trail of other stingers in the garden.