Landscape and garden expert

Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens get Grade I listing

English Heritage have awarded the crematorium memorial gardens at Stoke Poges Grade I listed status.

Set in parkland adjacent to Stoke Poges golf club, the landscape originally formed part of Stoke Park and was laid out by the famous landscape gardeners Lancelot "Capability" Brown and Humphrey Repton.

The characteristics of Stoke Park changed in about 1909 when the golf course was built and land sold off for building.

Last Chance to See Chesters Walled Garden

Last year brought news of the closure of one of the best loved gardens in the north of England. There’s still a chance to see it before it’s gone for good, writes Helen Gazeley.

News of the forthcoming closure of the world-renowned Chesters Walled Garden in Northumberland shocked the gardening world when it was announced last July.

Woodland Trust walk and wood finder

I bet you are itching to get out and about this weekend: another minute closed in with dogs and kids is enough to drive anyone to distraction.

If it's fresh air and exercise you are looking for then why not devise a long walk - before or after a hearty Sunday roast - at one of the Woodland Trust's hundreds of woodlands across the United Kingdom?

There are over a thousand sites to choose from - from rich ancient woodlands with gnarled tree roots to brand new plantations.

Snow brings branches crashing down at Exbury Gardens

Exbury gardeners have been cleaning up after the weight of heavy snowfall caused tree branches to crash to the ground in the 200 acre New Forest garden.

Head gardener John Anderson and his team have been cutting broken branches which might otherwise pose a hazard.

John’s deputy, Linda Runnacles said that several branches on a 300-year old cedar in front of Exbury House were among the many that had snapped under the weight of the snow.

Exbury Gardens enjoying colourful winter berries

This winter season looks set to be one of the most colourful in decades for berry bearing and winter flowering plants.

Head gardener at Exbury Gardens John Anderson says he can’t remember a season like it for masses of bright berries and early winter-flowering rhododendrons.

“The hollies are covered in red berries and so are the Skimmia japonicas near Exbury House. We’ve some winter-flowering rhododendrons too, that will be in full bloom while the Santa Steam Specials are running. ‘Christmas Cheer’ has pink flowers with frilly petals, while ‘Yellow Hammer’, which has already flowered once this year is doing it again, with lots of tiny yellow flowers making up a large head.

Wander around Kew Gardens using Google Street View

Have you ever visited Kew Gardens? Well now you may never have to as the world famous horticulture park has been uploaded by Google into its Street View service.

A Google team spent the early part of this year riding around Kew using a specially adapted tricycle hooked up to a global position system and special cameras.

Engineers were then able to record all of the hidden areas such as the trails and gardens that were otherwise not accessible using a car.

More on Google Street View at Kew Gardens.

Garden notebook discovered at Ickworth

Sean Reid, head gardener to the National Trust gardens at Ickwoth, is eager to trace anyone who might have known the gardener at Ickworth between 1900 and 1930.

The appeal follows the discovery of a gardeners' notebook during a wet day clear out the estate sheds.

The notebook is a hand written account of activities that took place in the estate gardens, including detailed weather records, a planting list including all of the varieties - long since lost - of fruit trees and species that were planted - it is said that the work is penned by more than one person.

The Kitchen Garden

When someone mentions they have a kitchen garden, a feeling of intense jealousy comes over me.

I imagine a lovely Georgian home with a walled area to the side and a small gate leading to a wonderfully abundant garden brimming with neat rows of vegetables interspersed with flowers and standard trees or roses, writes Claudia de Yong.

The National Memorial Arboretum

As gardeners, plants and trees play an important role in during our lives. They provide joy and excitement as well as create feelings of well-being.

Plants can be used in medicine, building of structures and they are probably one of the most photographed and painted subjects on the globe.

Plants and trees are also used as memorials to loved ones and heroes who have fought a cause on our behalf.

Exbury Gardens, Hampshire

Way back in chilly March, I gave away a family ticket to Exbury Gardens - Garden writer, Helen Gazeley was the lucky winner.

As autumn approaches, an explosion of leaf colour can lift the spirits. Exbury looks after the National Collection of Nyssa and Oxydendrum, but does it have anything else to offer? Helen recounts her day out.

Garden visiting in the rain is not everyone’s idea of fun. And certainly not my husband’s. So when we turned up at Exbury to enjoy tickets won on Landscape Juice, I was distinctly worried. It had rained solidly all the way down the M3.