Spring gardens full of bulbs & blossom
Magic TOUCH
At Caisson House in Somerset, Phil and Amanda Honey have worked to carve a garden from the industrial landscape, balancing wildness with formality to ensure that the spell cast by this magical setting is never broken
WORDS BEN POPE PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS
This image A terraced seating area at Caisson overlooks the restored glasshouses, with pots of tulips and muscari. Opposite The sun rises over a box parterre, with a froth of purple honesty and tulips in the foreground.
BRIDGE TO THE PAST
Having returned to his family home of Bramdean House in Hampshire, Edward Wakefield has been keen to preserve the legacy of his grandparents and parents who had expertly created and developed this garden of rare and accomplished planting over 80 years
WORDS MARTYN COX PHOTOGRAPHS MMGI/BENNET SMITH
The grand old Georgian house, formerly a coaching inn, sits at the end of the
mirror borders, which are packed with tulips and zesty euphorbia.
Sweetness & LIGHT
Fragrance and colour dominate the luminous Bedfordshire garden of Townsend Farmhouse, which has developed over 25 years in line with Indi Jackson’s own horticultural learning and is now a stalwart on the NGS scene, each season of openings culminating in a very special lantern festival
WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY PHOTOGRAPHS ANNA OMIOTEK-TOTT
Indi and Hugh’s island bed is nicknamed ‘Sri Lanka’ on account of the wash of jewel-like colour that sweeps over it in spring, when the tulips are in full bloom.
Spring FEVER
The rocky wooded garden of Maenan Hall winds its way up and down a Welsh hillside, and in April, with bluebells running riot beneath the emerging tree canopy and a cornucopia of rhododendrons to admire, it is little short of sublime
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS JOE WAINWRIGHT
This image Pale pink Rhododendron ‘Loderi King George’ overhangs a grassy hillside path. Opposite In The Dell, towering dawn redwoods reach up towards the sky.
ALL CHANGE
As the British climate gets ever warmer, we increasingly need to look to plants that will survive and thrive in changing conditions – something that’s all the more important when considering those that are typically more long-lived. Here Ian Tocher suggests ten more resilient trees
Hardy in the UK, the Judas tree, Cercis siliquastrum, produces pink flowers directly from its bare branches