What would you have in your dream garden? That's what we ask our guests on Talking Gardens, the podcast from Gardens Illustrated. We've got more amazing guests this season with top designers going for gold at the Chelsea Flower Show, as well as much-loved gardeners and expert plants people who will be telling all about their fantasy growing spaces. Discover Dan Pearson's approach to garden design, why Manoj Malde left fashion for horticulture, how Tom Massey is bringing AI into our gardens, and what advice Jo Thompson gives to women who want to do a Chelsea Show Garden.
We'll also be talking to national treasure Carol Klein, Head Gardener Tom Coward, planting maestro James Hitchmough and Horticulturist Alys Fowler.
New episodes drop every Tuesday. Hit follow now so you never miss an episode.
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0:49
Sarah Raven and Nigel Slater (Live)
This special bonus episode was recorded with a live audience at the Garden Museum in London. Stephanie talks to new guest Sarah Raven and returning listener favourite Nigel Slater about their fantasy gardens.
Nigel has the chance to add all the small things he forgot when he first constructed his dream garden, including a mossy rill and a climbing plant. We hear why Sarah would also include a rill in her dream garden, but how it would be different to Nigel’s as her space would be set into the hillside in Crete.
We hear about why Sarah would love for her father, who passed away when she was 17, to be a part of her dream garden and why an outdoor kitchen would be a must. We also hear why Nigel would love to share his space with someone who doesn’t have access to a garden.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
AD // Niwaki are offering Talking Gardens listeners the opportunity to save 10% at niwaki.com, until the 28th February 2025 using the code TALK10. This discount cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount codes and excludes delivery costs. Please visit the Niwaki website for any further Terms & Conditions that might apply at https://www.niwaki.com/about/terms/
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58:15
Ulf Nordfjell
In this episode of Talking Gardens, Stephanie talks to Swedish garden designer Ulf Nordfjell about his fantasy space. From the Villa Gamberaia in Tuscany and the enduring influence of the Renaissance on his work, to his love of the flora local to his home in northern Sweden, we hear about all of the things he would have to include in his dream garden.
Learn why he was blown away by the Noguchi Garden in California and why garden gnomes would never be allowed through the garden gate. He also tells us why Penelope Hobhouse would be invited to share his garden and how a sun-lounger would be an essential.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
AD // Niwaki are offering Talking Gardens listeners the opportunity to save 10% at niwaki.com, until the 28th February 2025 using the code TALK10. This discount cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount codes and excludes delivery costs. Please visit the Niwaki website for any further Terms & Conditions that might apply at https://www.niwaki.com/about/terms/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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42:03
Jinny Blom
In this episode Stephanie talks to award-winning garden designer Jinny Blom about her fantasy garden. Jinny chooses the plants, places and people that would make up her dream garden, from her experiences exploring Hidcote in the 1960s to why she’d have to include a piece of the Atacama Desert.
We learn why a fountain in Italy inspired her so much she’s recreating it in her own garden as a space for birds to enjoy and how she chopped down one of her neighbour’s retirement presents. Learn why Jinny would love to have a begonia house in her fantasy space, and why she’d never allow bad art into her garden.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
AD // Niwaki are offering Talking Gardens listeners the opportunity to save 10% at niwaki.com, until the 28th February 2025 using the code TALK10. This discount cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount codes and excludes delivery costs. Please visit the Niwaki website for any further Terms & Conditions that might apply at https://www.niwaki.com/about/terms/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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47:18
John Little
In this episode Stephanie talks to John Little about his fantasy garden. We learn why community spaces would be a key, even in his dream garden, and hear about the work he’s done to bring greenery to communities in urban settings throughout his career.
Listen to John struggling to choose between a sandpit and an industrial site as a landscape he’d like a piece of for his fantasy space and hear him talk about the places he played in as a child that have influenced him. Hear why he’d have to include a shopping trolley in his dream garden and why he wants his council to leave a fly-tip alone to assess its biodiversity benefits.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
AD // Niwaki are offering Talking Gardens listeners the opportunity to save 10% at niwaki.com, until the 28th February 2025 using the code TALK10. This discount cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount codes and excludes delivery costs. Please visit the Niwaki website for any further Terms & Conditions that might apply at https://www.niwaki.com/about/terms/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
If you could create your dream garden from pieces of all of your favourite places, and if you could grow any plants in the world, what would you choose? Who would you have as your imaginary head gardener, or garden designer?
In Talking Gardens, the podcast from the team behind Gardens Illustrated, host Stephanie Mahon asks the great and the good of the gardening world to construct their ultimate fantasy growing space.
Tune in to hear what Great Dixter’s head gardener Fergus Garrett, gardener and broadcaster Monty Don, and garden writer Alice Vincent choose for their dream gardens.
Discover why head gardener Troy Scott-Smith is no longer watering the borders at Sissinghurst; why herb expert Jekka McVicar loves a moon gate; and how gardening saved the life of Charlie Harpur, head gardener at Knepp Castle Walled Garden.
We also learn what ethnobotanist James Wong’s imaginary Eden would look like, and what garden designer Sarah Price would never allow in her garden.
Follow now so you never miss an episode.
South Africa