Exteriors
Gardens
From pristine greens to sloping beauties, parasols to peonies, shade yourself in the boughs of our garden stories
Latest Stories
From the archive: Gertrude Jekyll garden at Vann
From taming woodland and deterring greedy deer to picking pesky purple crocuses out of the white spring beds, the Caroes have their work cut out in the Gertrude Jekyll garden at Vann, their Arts and Crafts home in Surrey
A horticultural habit flourishes within the walls of this convent
At a long-neglected monastery at the tip of Italy’s heel, in Puglia, Alistair McAlpine spent 15 years or so fighting and defying the harsh climate to create a flourishing garden
The quirky geological museum created by a passionate collector is today one of east Iceland’s least-known gems
In an out-of-the-way fishing village on a fjord, the collector Ljósbjörg Petra María Sveinsdóttir put her rock and mineral collection on display and rejoiced in sharing it with others. Fifty years on, her home museum and garden still cast a spell
The rich literary history of Brookwood garden in Cooperstown
Established on the southern end of Lake Otsego in 1786 by the father of novelist James Fenimore Cooper, Cooperstown has a little-known history as the cradle of admired private gardens
Playing house in Dominique Lafourcade’s Lilliputian garden follies
Dominique Lafourcade’s extravagant summer play houses for children hold timeless (and ageless) delight
Does global warming call for innovative cacti gardens?
Arnaud Mauriéres believes that the future of horticulture lies with gardens of prickly succulents. This greenery – born in a dry bed – is just as pretty as traditional English flower-patches however, bursting into bright and fragrant bloom
The bizarre ‘Ideas Magazine’ and its eccentric garden follies
First published in 1796, Ideas Magazine… featured all manner of ways in which ‘educated nations’ could indulge their burgeoning passion for peculiar garden follies and ornaments. From haute-couture hen houses to wacky Ferris wheels, the more fanciful the better
A lonely 13th-century church garden bursts into life as a community space
A 13th-century church garden in Antwerp bursting with plants has been rechristened by tulip expert and landscape architect Ronald van der Hilst. Now he has blessed the plot with a design worthy of its ecclesiastical setting