Gardens Illustrated Magazine

Widely regarded as the Vogue of the gardening press, Gardens Illustrated aims to inspire you with an eclectic and international editorial mix of remarkable places, plants and people. With superb photography, authoritative journalism and exceptional design, this award-winning magazine is a style bible for garden designers, garden lovers and enthusiasts alike.

Editor’s letter

Contributors

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Gardens Illustrated Magzine

JAPAN’S HIDDEN GARDEN GEMS • Travel with Japanese garden expert Hannah Gardner on this far-reaching, two-week itinerary and discover some of Japan’s most compelling gardens

CONTEMPORARY IRISH GARDENS • Join plantsperson extraordinaire Jimi Blake to explore some of the best gardens around Dublin and the Wicklow Mountains

DIG IN • What’s happening, what’s in flower and what to buy this month

News

3 FOR THE GARDEN… PEAT-FREE POTTING COMPOST

KITTED OUT • For visiting spring gardens

April plants • With spring in full swing, Jimi’s choices lean towards flowers that will brighten dappled shade, including a gloriously coloured erythronium and a delicately beautiful epimedium

STIRRING THE ROOTS • April can be a changeable month – warm and sunny one minute, with frosts the next – but it’s time to get busy with your seed sowing and make the most of your harvested rhubarb

Jobs for April

GRAHAM HODGSON • A gardener at Great Dixter for more than a decade, Graham enjoys an experimental approach and continues to learn as he gardens – and share his findings

Guiding nature • At Belcombe Court classical parkland combines with a contemporary walled garden that in spring is alive with the bright colour of tulips

IN BRIEF

24 KEY TULIPS

EUPHORBIA • This vast and diverse genus brings structure and texture to a mixed planting scheme, and in spring plants also offer attractive flowers in many colours

PLANT PROFILE

Call of the wild • For her own garden in rural Kent, designer Amanda Buckland has given the natural meadow-style planting she loves a modern twist by contrasting its softness with more formal evergreens and contemporary hard landscaping

Natural beauty • At Mothecombe House in south Devon the relaxed gardens now include a walled garden that has become a sanctuary for bees

12 KEY PLANTS

RICHARD SCOTT • The director of the National Wildflower Centre on helping bring nature into the city, the importance of raising people’s aspirations and helping them to engage more with nature

Supporting roles • Plant supports are essential for climbers and tall plants that have a tendency to flop. But they will also help save space in your borders and encourage good air circulation, which prevents some pests and diseases, and makes for healthier, stronger plants – and now is the perfect time to make your own

Shooting stars • From small beginnings Bluebell Arboretum & Nursery in Derbyshire has grown to become one the UK’s top nurseries for sourcing unusual trees and shrubs, and a beautiful spring destination – just don’t expect to see any bluebells

16 key trees and shrubs

IN BRIEF

PAINTING WITH PLANTS • Beauty and sustainability combine in the gardens David Glenn and Criss Canning have created alongside their world-renowned Lambley Nursery

24 KEY PLANTS

Pearls of perfection • Like their more ornate counterpart the tulipiere or tulpenvaas, flower bricks were designed to hold single stems of cut flowers but these smaller vessels were used in the 18th-century to display less valuable flowers than the much sought-after tulips. Flower bricks are wonderfully practical with an often simple design that is regaining popularity. They have also inspired gardener Hannah Gardner to explore the...