‘There is a place for jokes, and a place for not-jokes’ – Ambra Edwards meets Ian Hamilton Finlay
This is the first of a series of repeated and rejuvenated early articles from thinkingardens. I’ve been aware for some time that there are excellent pieces on here which many people don’t find. (though there is an index on site) And that if they did,...
Designers Damned by Lou Nicholls
I know that garden designers, gardeners and garden makers read and contribute to thinkingardens, so here’s a cat to set amongst you pigeons. Does it hit a spot? Or is it totally unreal? Feel free to comment, or even to offer a piece countering the case made...
The Lesson of Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden
Troy Scott-Smith suggested that Andrea Russo and Paola Avesani would be good people to review Beth Chatto’s latest book Drought Resistant Planting. It turned out that language problems were going to make that difficult, so instead they wrote a piece for...
Gardeners, Designers – or Garden Makers? by Anne Wareham
My apologies. This was not the piece I intended to publish this week, and I had no intention of popping up again so soon to annoy you. But today I got annoyed and you know how rare that is. For many years I had wanted to define and articulate the difference between...
Sissinghurst – forever, for everyone? by John Sales
I thought this response to last week’s piece, Commercial at what Cost? from John Sales, the National Trust’s chief gardens adviser until his retirement in 1998, merited a separate post. Anne Wareham, editor John Sales: Your thoughtful piece about Troy...
Commercial at what cost? by Anne Wareham
I’ve thought a lot about what Troy Scott-Smith is up against at Sissinghurst and I gather he is appearing on Gardener’s World this week (8th July) to talk about it. These are some of my reflections about on Sissinghurst’s revitalisation and the...
Blog for Nothing? by Alexandra Campbell
An issue close to the hearts of many of us, I think. I wish I could pay all you generous contributors ££££s! Anne Wareham, editor ARE WRITERS BEING EXPLOITED IN BLOGGING…AND CAN WE DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT? by AlexandraCampbell A debate broke out about this on...
Taste and Themes at Chelsea by Daniel Bristow
Quite a few of us have ideas about themes and taste at Chelsea (see ‘Do themes help?). But we rarely hear a critical comment from a designer who is actually showing a garden at Chelsea. It takes bottle. Here is Daniel Bristow, (“Propagating Dan”)with...
Garden allusions, by Noel Kingsbury, Anne Wareham, and Yue Zhuang
This piece, originally posted as ‘Allusion in Gardens’ arose out of a discussion about my use of an informal box parterre at Veddw. The intention is to allude to the local field boundaries indicated on the Tithe Map of the area in 1848, creating a link...
The Importance of Labels by Rachel The Gardener
I won’t generally label plants at Veddw, not just because of the excessive work and the inevitability of mislabelling, but because for me it destroys the aesthetic of a garden. A bit like labelling all the colours on The Fighting Temeraire, maybe. It was...
Colour! by Nigel Dunnett.
Ever since the Popes (remember them? Hadspen?) foretold in 1999 that colour would be the big thing in the new century, colour has been perhaps the least considered aspect of garden design among thinkingardeners and their ilk. Though I confess that, unrepentant, it has...
How do you like your edges? by Thomas Stone
I have a permanent argument with at least one good friend about edging. I like to see plants creating their own edge, merging happily with the grass and no bare soil in sight. She likes that carefully edged edge. As does Thomas. And you? Anne Wareham, editor ...
Messing about in Boats by Cherie Lebbon
“Here today, up and off to somewhere else tomorrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that’s always changing!” Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows Here’s someone who has responded to that challenge....
Recent Posts from: Veddw
Ambivalence about Snowdrops
Well, I’m sorry, but I didn’t have a happy Christmas. We were both full of cough and were quite unwell. I have not recovered, and I find myself quite unable to write anything new. So I dipped into The Bad Tempered Gardener to offer you a piece on those plants which gardeners obsess about at this time […]
I’ve fallen in love with these.
I love my garden, I do. It’s at the heart of my life. But just recently I’ve been drawn back and back to a windowsill with some sweet dwarf pelargoniums.
Favour the Ferns
Many years ago The Financial Times sent me to do a feature on the RHS ‘Flower Show’ at Tatton Park . I was totally naïve and had no idea what I was supposed to do or to write about. So my excitement was tempered by acute anxiety. The term ‘imposter syndrome’ could have been invented for me. […]
Snowdrop mania is coming…
In the UK, right now, the horticultural world is about to drive us all mad with snowdrops. Pictures of. Articles about. Gardens with them. Anything people can think of to bash us over the head with snowdrops.
Brilliant Brecon
Recently we made a visit to Brecon. This is not far from us, in case anyone was getting over excited about the possibility that I might have been travelling again. It’s in Wales, in the Brecon Beacons, recently re-christened Bannau Brycheiniog.
