The English Garden

Enjoy over 60 beautiful gardens a year with The English Garden. Every issue features country, city, cottage and coastal gardens, with advice on how to recreate them. Be inspired by articles written by the country's top garden designers and discover the best plant varieties for your garden, chosen by expert nurserymen and plantspeople.

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The English Garden

This Month • Our guide to plants, people, gardens and events, tasks and shopping in October

People to Meet • Introducing the gardeners and public figures we most admire in British horticulture

Out & About • Unmissable events, news and the very best gardens to visit this month

Jim’s Garden Diary • This month, Jim Cable is revitalising a tired bed of daylilies, crocosmia and bergenias, tackling bindweed, planning for next year and planting broad beans

Beautiful & Useful • New plants, books, tools and creative designs, plus shopping inspiration

Lawn & Order • A verdant lawn with neat edges and uniform stripes is the serious gardener’s ultimate goal. The required mowing, fertilising, weeding, aerating and scarifying take time and effort, however, so a spot to sit and admire the fruits of your labour is a nice touch. Here, a tree bench offers the perfect 360° view. Round Tree Bench, £2,500. Tel: 01227 469413; theoakandropecompany.co.uk

An Empire OF COLOUR • Sarah Raven, whose eponymous brand is based on colourful cut flowers, shares her love of all things bright and beautiful in her gloriously vibrant gardens at Perch Hill in East Sussex

A LOVE of the Late • Jenny and Tom Williams have a passionate appreciation for the relaxed pleasures of the autumn garden, and they’ve developed The Laundry in Denbighshire over 15 years to put on a spectacular second show at this magical time of year

The Power of BALANCE • Alison Green’s experimental approach has resulted in a perfectly proportioned series of garden rooms at Theobalds Farmhouse in Middlesex, where balance is both a driving force and a central motif

Royal FLUSH • Fife’s Falkland Palace was once home to Scottish royalty and its formal gardens host a range of fine trees, Arts & Crafts borders and an orchard of regional fruits all suffused in the warm glow of autumn

AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT • John Massey attributes his long career at Ashwood Nurseries to happenstance, and the creation of his own private garden has similarly come about through coincidence and luck

Better BOUNDARIES • Whether you’re making a feature of it or trying to obscure it, certain clever rules will help you make the most of your garden’s boundary. Helen Elks-Smith and James Scott offer their expert advice

PLANT LIKE A PRO • Whether you want to fill gaps in your planting, develop an area or start a garden from scratch, it can be hard to know where to start. Follow this primer from garden designer Humaira Ikram to create a successful scheme

Shady Characters • The National Trust’s first Sissinghurst Scholar, Claire Margetts, uses her experience at the classic Kent garden to suggest the best climbers for shade

Second Showing • Autumn-flowering clematis offer more subtle pleasures and a much longer period of interest than the big, bright, brief show put on by their summer counterparts. Richard Hodson, of specialist grower Hawthornes Nursery, champions these late-season lovelies and recommends the best ones to try

POWER PACK • From unassuming bulbs come some of the brightest and most colourful flowers of all. Create an electrifying display in your own garden with suggestions from five bulb aficionados

Sow What You Reap • Harvest the seed of favourite perennials, save it and sow it for masses of free plants in years to come. Jacky Hobbs explains the correct techniques to...