Widely regarded as the Vogue of the gardening press, Gardens Illustrated aims to inspire you with an eclectic and international editorial mix of remarkable places, plants and people. With superb photography, authoritative journalism and exceptional design, this award-winning magazine is a style bible for garden designers, garden lovers and enthusiasts alike.

Editor’s letter

Contributors

Gardens Illustrated Magazine

Funding stream • What’s happening, what’s in flower and what to buy this month

News

Gifts for gardeners • Find the perfect Christmas present for the gardener in your life

December plants • Keith rounds off the year with plants chosen for their winter foliage and bark alongside the heady scents of an early daphne and clear-yellow witch hazel

COLD COMFORTS • Midwinter is time to look to your soil, as the richer and more vital you make it, the more flavoursome and nutritious your produce. But December is also time to relax with a good seed catalogue and plan next year’s plot – and to reward yourself with some comforting meals from this year’s harvest

Jobs for December

ALEXANDER SUMMERS • With a knack for successfully caring for plants from around the world, Alex works as glasshouse supervisor at Cambridge University Botanic Garden

Sculpting nature • In her lakeside garden Monique Gudgeon has created a strongly structured garden to showcase her husband Simon’s art

Christmas at home • Bring some Yuletide cheer to your home by embracing time-honoured traditions of lighting candles, gifting presents and decorating your home with greenery from the garden, woods and hedgerows

COTONEASTER • These versatile and low-maintenance shrubs combine easily with perennials and grasses and offer richly coloured berries through autumn and winter

PLANT PROFILE

Where to buy and see

A brighter splash • A colourful new artwork for Jupiter Artland in Scotland required a calm, green garden. Head gardener Thomas Unterdorfer explains the art of creating a pool garden that is also part of the art

Texture and composition

Outside the box

PAT HAVERS • Waterperry Gardens’ self-taught head gardener on learning the ropes by osmosis, why there was no messing with Miss Havergal and a lifetime spent loving the gardens where she now works

Formal thinking • In the garden around their Flanders farmhouse, Olivier and Trudy Vico have combined formality with exuberant planting

Traditional taste • RV Roger has a century-old reputation for growing top-quality plants, but it is its field-grown apple trees for which this traditional family run nursery is now best known

16 key apples

HEART OF THE HOME • A fireplace is often a focal point for a room, and can always be improved by a plant or two. Matthew Reese shows how best to arrange plants, whether adding interest to an empty hearth or bringing a mantelpiece to life

Plants

Where to buy

Know your lichen • Although they often go unnoticed, with their multitude of colours and forms, lichens deserve a closer look. Discover their intricate beauty with our guide to some of the UK’s most common species

Design • News and sourcebook

News

Terracotta pots • Nine stylish clay pots for home or garden

Best gardening books of the year • A look back at some of our favourite books from 2020, plus your chance to win them all

BOOK REVIEWS

Stockists

Begonias • The great pretender of houseplants can be a challenge, but joy comes to those who persevere