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 May

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 tames thriving climbers, finds fast-growing shrubs to replace gaps left after a cold winter and sows annual seed for summer colour

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

Think Pink • Ephemeral peony flowers may feel as fleeting as dawn, but their extravagant blush pink petals make a strong and beautiful statement. Classical swirl handles and an exquisite hand-painted design make Vasielle’s eye-catching vase a worthy tribute to an iconic bloom. Vasielle Amphora Floral Vase, £105. anthropologie.com

Box of JEWELS • When designer Julie Toll was asked by the owners of The Manor House in Hertfordshire to renovate their garden, she set to work creating and updating a treasure trove of beautiful designs that have continued to enthral the clients and their visitors for almost 15 years

Rhapsody in GREEN • In thrall to her love of evergreens, Louise Dowding has created a coolly elegant garden at Yews Farm in Somerset where foliage always takes precedence, with flowers a pretty bonus

Out with THE OLD • After years of neglect, the gardens at Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire have been redeveloped, with new planting designs echoing the Arts & Crafts history of the main house

Purple HAZE • When she first moved to Forest Lodge in this quiet corner of Somerset, Lucy Nelson was delighted to find that the fertile acidic soil allowed flowering trees to thrive and helped her beloved alliums grow like weeds

Hollow PROMISES • From its first tantalising glimpses, the woodland garden at Copyhold Hollow in West Sussex is clearly something very special. Packed with year-round interest and colour, this magical space is a 30-year labour of love

BIG SKY THINKING • After leaving London, Marysa Norris revelled in the space around Church Cottage in Suffolk. Her professed love of disorderly planting has resulted in a garden that encompasses formal borders and a relaxed perennial meadow

It’s Show Time • The RHS Chelsea Flower Show opens its gates again in May. Show gardens this year celebrate a South Korean mountain, the artist Cedric Morris, and insects, as well as shining a light on many deserving charities

Find the Nation’s Favourite Gardens

Take Your Pick • Soft fruits are easy to grow and can often be harvested for several months. Ed Bollom, head gardener at Gordon Castle, recommends his ten favourites

Hale & Hardy • Plant Heritage National Collection holder Dr Andrew Ward explains how the delicate foliage and flowers of astrantia, charmingly referred to as Hattie’s pincushion, are surprisingly robust and versatile

Caring for astrantias • Andrew shares his advice for cultivating these reliable and versatile hardy perennials

Notes from PERCH HILL • In the second of four extracts adapted from her new book, A Year Full of Veg, Sarah Raven turns her attention to leafy greens, the main component of the late-spring vegetable crop

THE SPICE OF LIFE • Fresh or dried, herbs will flavour your cooking, soothe ailments, add...