After some misgivings and earnest discussions about the wisdom of such an undertaking, they said 'yes'. Dwelling in the past, as many older folk are wont to do, is generally inadvisable. It becomes an exercise in uncomfortable comparisons. But it can also be a reminder of the benefits of progress. Especially in the garden.
Never have we had so many plants to choose from: about 70,000 of them in the RHS Plant Finder. Neither have we had the benefit of so many 'garden designers' who can show us how to use them. In the early 1960s, only the exceptionally well-to-do, and those with country estates, would employ the likes of Russell Page and Lanning Roper to landscape their demesnes. Domestic gardens of modest size would settle for a rectangle of lawn surrounded by a narrow border filled with a limited range of summer flowers, with golden rod and shasta daisies predominating.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
