For instant impact in a newly landscaped garden, there’s nothing quite like planting mature trees or native hedgerow plants for transformative and long-lasting results, believes Steven Desmond

Adding a magical element to any garden on a frosty winter’s day, topiary offers interest all year round, as well as the chance to demonstrate some creative clipping, says Jen Harbrow, senior gardener at the National Trust’s Hinton Ampner in Hampshire

Behind every great British garden… gardeners at work ...

Nature’s spiky deterrents–thorns, spines and prickles–may be quick to catch us out, but they can also prove to be a useful ally, discovers Laura Parker

In 1993 Sarah and Chris Vermont moved from Brixton, London, to Hungerdowns in Essex, an old farmhouse dating back to 1600 with a Georgian front added in 1757. In the garden there were existing hedges,

“One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,” goes the old proverb. The meaning is simple: if you are going to be punished for a small crime, you may as well commit the bigger one. In the early