Search - Articles

I have been greatly preoccupied with ponds recently. A client of mine has an unbelievably wet field - most of it squelches underfoot and any holes dug fill immediately with water - in which we have been digging ponds. These are not small ponds

at RHS Garden Rosemoor, growing on the edge of a pond. It is well worth a trip to these lovely gardens in Devon to see it (and at this time of year there is the bonus of watching the apple harvest there.)I first saw Gunnera manicata when I was a small boy

been quite formal.I initially laid it out about ten years ago, based on a pattern I found in a picture of some pierced stonework in a palace in India. It formed a lattice of little paths around a central brick pond and fountain. But the timber edgings

to deadhead half of it after flowering so that I would get a second flush around now but got distracted and now it is too late. Oh well, there is always next year.My second mistake was one of omission: there is an area around my pond consisting of a series

which is perfect for clearing weed out of ponds (drainage) and one with no wheel. Nothing fancy just bog-standard builders merchant types.The first recorded example of a man pushing a wheelbarrow is in a painted tomb mural in Chengdu, China (dated 118AD

-style southern garden and the northern garden, which nodded towards the French style. The latter consisted of an oval arranged around a central pond. The surrounding borders were extraordinary: absolutely jam-packed with a fabulous array of about 2000 coloured

-in-law's garden, where it overhangs her pond — it was love at first sight. Who could resist the delightful, slightly curled leaves? Especially when, come the autumn, they transform into an extraordinarily flamboyant conflagration of red and orange. Parrotias

This morning we went for a walk first thing as the sun rose through the autumn mist. The fields were heaving with young partridge, a small mouse looked impertinently at us from the compost heap, a flight of ducks got up from the pond and the trees

or a stone wall that floats your boat. Some gardens have good ponds or even an exciting piece of furniture or sculpture.No matter how grand, extravagant or unrealistic the gardens may seem everyone will have a little area they could easily take home

designed around a 17th Century watermill, which also includes some newish woodland and four new ponds (including one which I have named after our own delightful wildlife fanatic, Kate Bradbury). I wish I could be there but on that day (19th June) I