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...
You may do unexpected things – a book review by James Golden
This looks like an unusually exciting book. (It’s on order..) I’m begining to wonder if America has all the best gardens now? Anne Wareham, editor A review of The Art of Gardening: Design Inspiration and Innovative Planting Techniques from Chanticleer by...
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....
Peer review by Bunny Guinness
Bunny Guinness recently wrote this piece for the Telegraph and it was published in the newspaper. It has not yet appeared online though, so I asked (and received) her permission to use it here. Many thinkingardens readers will already be familiar with this topic and...
The Monster Outside by Valerie Lapthorne
I know this feeling very well, and I think we will not be on our own. Mind you – there are easier ways to garden than this! Anne Wareham, editor The Monster Outside, by Valerie Lapthorne It sits there all powerful,...
Do we need Garden Experts? by Anne Wareham
I know – you waited all this time for a new piece and now it’s just me. Still: is it time we changed our perspective on ‘Garden Experts’? What do you think? Anne Wareham, editor Anne Wareham: This winter, Graham Rice , a garden...
I’m not renewing my RHS Membership by Julieanne Porter
Having just been exposed to the expensive bonanza which is Chelsea, it seemed appropriate to look at the issue of garden costs again. This time the issue is the cost of RHS membership. This is a little close to my heart because the Veddw used to be a Partnership...
Well loved – or totally forgotten? Russell Page Exhibition reviewed by Francois Gordon
Russell Page is being honoured at present by the Garden Museum in London. To publicise the exhibition, Christopher Woodward, the director of the Museum, wrote a piece for the Telegraph headed ‘The most famous garden designer no-one has ever heard...
The Cost of a Garden by Tristan Gregory
I have to report, with mixed feelings, that the demands of happy domestic life have taken over one of our best and most prolific contributors. How could I not be happy for Tristan? Or sorry for us? So this may be one of fewer Tristan Gregory contributions. One thing...
Pleasance in Suburbia by Genny Twigg
We’ve all read something like it…. Anne Wareham, editor Pleasance in Suburbia, by Genny Twigg In brief Name: 102, 1956 semi-detached bungalow Points of Interest: Edwardian formal style influenced by Arts and Crafts movement, planting taken from William...
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.
