Gardens Illustrated Magazine: Recent Episodes
Immediate Media
The Gardens Illustrated podcast features an eclectic mix of talks and interviews with notable garden figures and designers. To find out more, visit www.gardensillustrated.com
Staff writer Alys Hurn chats to garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith to find out why he agreed to create a Chelsea garden for the Garfield Weston Foundation and how he’s feeling about designing a garden inside the Great Pavilion.
Staff writer Alys Hurn chats with garden designer Paul Hervey-Brookes to find out more about his Nordic-style, artisan garden for Viking Cruises and Paul explains why RHS Chelsea Flower Show is unlike any other garden show in the world.
Staff writer Alys Hurn chats with garden designer Chris Beardshaw to find out more about the story behind his NSPCC garden for Morgan Stanley and what excites him most about Chelsea this year.
Staff writer Alys Hurn chats with garden designer Matt Keightley who is stepping away from the show gardens on Main Avenue to create this year’s RHS Feel Good Garden.
Staff writer Alys Hurn chats with garden designer Kate Gould to find out more about her New West End Garden in the new Space to Grow category at RHS Chelsea and how she intends to create a pocket of calm in the heart of London.
Staff writer Alys Hurn chats with garden designer Sarah Price to find out a little bit more about her Mediterranean-inspired garden for show sponsors M&G and why this particular design is her ultimate garden fantasy.
The Gardens Illustrated Talk 2016, held during Chelsea Flower Show week, brought together garden designer Luciano Giubbilei and fashion designer Sir Paul Smith They explore what for them are key relationships between fashion, plants, flowers and design
Editor Juliet Roberts and deputy Sorrel Everton chat with garden experts Annie Gatti, Arne Maynard, Tim Richardson, Annie Guilfoyle, Jason Ingram, Rosemary Alexander to get their thoughts on what turned out to be a very splendid RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Sarah Raven is a writer, gardener, cook and florist, whose garden at Perch Hill in East Sussex offers inspirational plantings of both vegetables and flowers. In her talk she explains how she left medicine to set up her cutting garden business.
Great Dixter was the home of the late, great gardener Christopher Lloyd. Today under the guidance of head gardener Fergus Garrett it remains one of our finest gardens, renowned for its exciting and exemplary planting.
Anna Pavord takes us to Florence and the hillsides of Tuscany in the early 20th century in the footsteps of the free-spirited expat community to discover the stories behind the creation of some of the region’s most thrilling gardens.
As the legacy of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson, Sissinghurst Castle is one of Britain's best-loved gardens. Head gardener Troy Scott-Smith and designer Dan Pearson discuss the new vision to re-establish the garden's original spirit.
Editor Juliet Roberts and deputy Sorrel Everton chat with garden experts Tim Richardson, Annie Gatti, Arne Maynard, Rosemary Alexander and Annie Guilfoyle to find out what caught their eye at RHS Chelsea Flower Show back in May.
We talk to Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf and garden writer Noël Kingsbury about their recent book, Hummelo, in which Noël tracks Piet’s approach to planting design through the development of his own garden.
In this podcast hear Noël Kingsbury in conversation with John Carter of Rowden Gardens in which he talks about what brought him all the way from the deserts of Arabia to selling aquatics in rural Devon.
Catch up on some of the highlights of this year’s show as editor Juliet Roberts and deputy Sorrel Everton chat to leading garden experts to find out their thoughts. We hear from Andrew Duff, Tim Richardson, Rosemary Alexander, Annie Gatti, Annie Guilfoyle and garden photographer Jason Ingram.
The Gardens Illustrated Talk 2014, held on the Tuesday of Chelsea Flower Show week, brought together Great Dixter’s head gardener Fergus Garrett and garden and landscape designer Dan Pearson – both internationally admired gardening greats. They were led by Anna Pavord in a conversion that revealed their gardening passions and inspirations.
This autumn Gardens Illustrated is running a reader holiday to Paris (13–17 October 2014). We spoke to horticulturist and tour host John Hoyland to find out more about the trip and why the capital's gardens both historic and contemporary are such an inspiration, plus find out about the unique access to private gardens and garden owners that makes this trip unmissable. To book on to the tour please contact mail@boxwoodtours.co.uk or go to www.boxwoodtours.co.uk for full details.
In 2014 garden designer John Brookes MBE celebrated his 80th birthday. Editor Juliet Roberts visited him at home to chat about his gardening life and his thoughts on the world of garden design past and present.
We talk to film director Markus Imhoof about his recent film More Than Honey and what it reveals about our complex relationship with the honeybee – and what we as gardeners can do to help their beleaguered numbers. The film is now available on DVD.
This summer editor Juliet Roberts travelled to Hokkaido in northern Japan to visit the Tokachi Millennium Forest. Here she chats to garden and landscape designer Dan Pearson about his involvement in this inspirational project.
The Gardens Illustrated Talk 2013, held during Chelsea Flower Show week, saw renowned Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf and award-winning garden designer Jinny Blom chat about their work and give insights into how they approach planting and design.
Editor Juliet Roberts and deputy Sorrel Everton chat with garden experts Annie Guifoyle, Rosemary Alexander, Tim Richardson, Andrew Duff, Dan Pearson and Annie Gatti to find out what caught their eye at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2013.
Editor Juliet Roberts talks to award-winning Swedish designer Ulf Nordfjell about his design for the Laurent-Perrier garden at the 2013 Chelsea Flower Show. For more podcast and video coverage from Chelsea download the iPad version of the June 2013 issue.
Editor Juliet Roberts and deputy Sorrel Everton chat with garden experts Annie Guifoyle, Rosemary Alexander, Jinny Blom, Andrew Wilson, Dan Pearson and Annie Gatti to find out what caught their eye at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012.
Gardens Illustrated’s annual lecture takes place during Chelsea Flower Show week. This year, Vista hosts Noël Kingsbury and Tim Richardson were joined by designers Andy Sturgeon, Dan Pearson and Cleve West (hot from his ‘Best in Show’ win at Chelsea) to discuss the current trends in planting and design.
Celebrating the life of the late Christopher Lloyd and the garden at Great Dixter. Fergus gardened alongside Christo for 20 years as his head gardener, while Anna was one of his many friends and a regular visitor to Great Dixter. The two recall an entertaining selection of anecdotes about the great man.
Gardens Illustrated editor Juliet Roberts chats with designers Dan Pearson, Jinny Blom and Andrew Wilson to find out what caught their eye at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2010.
Iconic gardener Beth Chatto chats with Alan about her approach to gardening through the years.
Iconic gardener Beth Chatto chats with Alan about her approach to gardening through the years.
Recorded in autumn 2009, garden journalist and broadcaster Peter Seabrook talks to Tim Richardson and Noel Kingsbury about his enduring passion for horticulture and plants in particular.
Recorded in autumn 2009, garden journalist and broadcaster Peter Seabrook talks to Tim Richardson and Noel Kingsbury about his enduring passion for horticulture and plants in particular.
Recorded in summer 2009, husband and wife design team Isabel and Julian Bannerman talk about their work at gardens including Waddesdon Manor, Arundel Castle and Highgrove.
Gardens Illustrated editor Juliet Roberts talks to garden design experts about their reaction to the 2009 show.
Giddy with spring, Frank Ronan sets out on a spending spree and fills his car with exciting new plants.
Our normal monthly podcasts are currently postponed, but we still have columnist Frank Ronan reading his Writer's Plot. In March he is driven to distraction by the winds that sweep across his hilltop garden.
James is professor at the Department of Landscape at Sheffield University where he is researching the use of naturalistic herbaceous plantings within urban settings. His approach may be scientific but the reactions from those who see the swathes of colourful prairie and meadow-like planting are heartfelt. James, Noel and Tim discuss the implications of sustainability in this work and its cultural and aesthetic impact.
Acclaimed garden designer, garden historian and writer Penelope Hobhouse talks to VISTA hosts Tim Richardson and Noel Kingsbury about her life as one of our most respected gardening figures. She discusses her travels in Italy and Iran and their effect on her approach to garden design, a sense of spirituality and whether one feels a sense of virtue when creating a garden.
With spring in the air we indulge in the scent of flowers as writer Caroline Beck travels to the rose fields of Iran to give us a wonderfully evocative report that perfectly complements her feature in the magazine.
We have an interview with the curator of the current British Museum’s Babylon: Myth and Reality exhibition. Also, columnist Frank Ronan brings some garden fugitives in from the cold to cheer him up.
Back in summer 2008, the founder of the UK's Guerrilla Gardening movement Richard Reynolds was joined by designer Brita von Schoenaich and urban geographer Dr Felicity Callard to talk about their experiences and opinions on this growing phenomena and public planting in general.
The internationally renowned garden and landscape designer talk about some of the projects undertaken by his studio, including one of his early designs at Home Farm in Northamptonshire and the ongoing Millennium Forest project in Japan.
The Gardens Illustrated team gather round to discuss their favourite features from 2008 and chat about their Christmas gift ideas. Columnist Frank Ronan continues the theme with his own thoughts on the most suitable presents for gardeners.
This month we remind garden designers of the 12 January deadline for entries to the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show Conceptual Gardens section and editor Juliet Roberts talks to Tim Richardson to find out more about what the judges might be looking for.
Senior lecturer in the Dept of Landscape at the University of Sheffield, Nigel Dunnett talks about rain gardens, using design and planting to capture and utilise rain water - avoiding storm run off and floods. Disconnect your drainpipes!
Mark is a landscape designer and founder of green walling company Biotechture Ltd. His view of sustainability is that with the implications of peak oil, gardens must sustain our society with cyclicle production.
Earlier this year David Cooper, professor of philosophy, discussed whether we need a philosophy of gardens. His talk considered the aesthetic, semantic and ethical meaning of a garden as experienced by both garden visitor and garden creator.
Landscape designer and artist Andy Cao and landscape designer Xavier Perrot of Cao Perrot Studio in Los Angeles, New York and Paris presented 'A place for Dreaming - the beauty of imperfection'. In this recording Andy Cao talks through projects to describe their work as 'a blending of landscape and art'. www.caoperrotstudio.com
Botanist and landscape designer Kate Cullity of Taylor Cullity Lethlean from Adelaide, Australia. As a partnership, their designs aim to establish an investigation into the poetic expression of the Australian landscape and contemporary culture. Kate talks through some recent projects in her presentation entitled 'Telling Stories; Inspiration from Art, Science and Landscape'. www.tcl.net.au
Landscape architect Claude Cormier is based in Montreal in Canada and works on urban landscape projects. His talk is entitled 'Artificial... Not Fake'. His first conceptual garden was created 20 years ago as a bamboo forest in a nightclub. This bringing together of opposite worlds continues to inform his work. www.claudecormier.com
Eelco Hooftman of Edinburgh-based landscape architects Gross Max talks on the 'Art of the Artifact or Cult of the Cultivar'. The studio has undertaken many project throughout Europe earning a reputation for its contextual approach to urban spaces. www.grossmax.com
Not a full podcast this month – more an introduction to our extra podcasts. But we do have Frank Ronan with his comment for October. This month he turns his thoughts to the search for appropriate attire when working in the garden.
Introduction to event with welcome from Victoria Walsh, head of public programmes at Tate Britain and Peter Thomas the chair of the SGD. 'A Landscape Can be About Anything' - Tim Richardson sets the subject into context with a look at its meaning in terms of garden design and its historical background.
Swedish landscape architect Monika Gora is best known for her temporary exhibits within existing landscapes in which she aims to transform the relationship between landscape and buildings. She speaks on 'Inventing Places and Exploring by Doing'. www.gora.se
Fergus Garrett, head gardener at Great Dixter in Sussex talks about the dahlia trials at Wisley and comments on some of the findings and his favourites.
In the September podcast we indulge in our delight for dahlias with interviews from the RHS Dahlia Trials Open Day held at Wisley in Surrey. We also hear from gardener and television presenter Sarah Raven about her top tips for growing vegetables through the autumn and winter. And columnist Frank Ronan is delighted by colour in the garden.
This month we hear from photographer Nic Barlow, who has pursued a life-long passion to record in pictures some of the most notable follies and grottoes of Europe. He talks about the book that he has recently released. And regular columnist Frank Ronan introduces us to Mrs Trug.
A summer special with the Gardens Illustrated team getting together to chat about recent garden visits they’ve made. They talk about the Hampton Court Flower Show, a garden in Cornwall, village scarecrows and all things roses.
This month we've a tour of the latest attraction at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, with head of arboriculture Tony Kirkham introducing the exciting new Rhizotron and Xstrata Treetop Walkway. We also talk to salad-growing expert Charles Dowding about his new book Salad Leaves for All Seasons.
Gardens Illustrated editor Juliet Roberts spoke to three garden experts, Tim Richardson, Dan Pearson and Andrew Wilson, about this year's Chelsea Flower Show. They each give their opinions on the event picking up on current trends and must-have plants.
A busy month in the garden and in the podcast with our first outside broadcast from the new Shirley Sherwood Gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew with Dr Sherwood showing us round the gallery's display of botanical art. Then there's an interview with author Christopher Stocks about his latest book Forgotten Fruits and Frank is mesmerised by the colour blue. Don't forget to visit our new forum and get involved in the various discussions.
Gardens Illustrated presents the Gardening with a Legacy lecture at the Museum of Garden History.
Gardens Illustrated presents the Gardening with a Legacy lecture at the Museum of Garden History.
Writer and psychotherapist Rozsika Parker joins hosts Noel Kingsbury and Tim Richardson to consider if men and women garden differently. This is a lively discussion with lots of contributions from the floor bringing up aspects of history, culture, genetics and economics both in terms of the amateur and professional gardener alike.
Springtime favourites with ideas for seeing magnolias in bloom and spotting the delicate Fritillaria meleagris. Interviews include a chat with designer Helen Dooley, who is creating a Gardens Illustrated vegetable garden at the Gothenburg garden festival this summer.
Inspiration for spring with co-owner of nursery Secret Seeds, John Langston, giving tips on successful seed sowing. Then we talk to the head gardener at Hever Castle in Sussex to find out more about the garden's connection with the recent release of the film The Other Boleyn Girl.
Considered something as a agent provocateur in the horticultural world, William Martin describes himself as 'an artist whose ideas find their best expression in the garden'. In his talk he considers the complex relationships between landscape, environment, culture and society as revealed in his own garden Wigandia in southern Australia.
Highlights of the February issue plus snowdrops with Dr John Grimshaw from Colesbourne gardens and columnist Frank Ronan talks about the pleasures of weeding.
Highlights of the January issue plus tales from daring plant hunters. There's also an interview with author Tim Richardson, flagging up the series of discussions he is hosting together with Noel Kingsbury at the Museum of Garden History. He talks about the recent event with landscape designer Kim Wilkie.
Landscape architect Kim Wilkie, whose projects include the V and A Museum garden, talks about ‘The Uses and Abuses of History’, discussing the issues of authenticity and appropriateness when it comes to garden restoration. How do we interpret the past and what are our responsibilities? Kim draws on his own experiences at Villa La Peitra in Florence, Heveningham Hall, Suffolk, Boughton Park, Northamptonshire and a private house in Hampshire, leading a lively and interesting debate.
Florist Neil Honor of the Original Wreath Company takes us through making our own Christmas wreath using plants from the garden and Matthew Wilson, curator of the RHS garden at Harlow Carr, gives advice on a more sustainable approach to gardening.
Forester Geoff Sinclair talks about the campaign to encourage the use of native-grown hazel poles in the garden, instead of bamboo from China; and in the wake of the publication of the late Christopher Lloyd’s last book Exotic Planting for Adventurous Gardeners, Great Dixter’s head gardener Fergus Garrett talks about the bold Exotic Garden they created together.