Charles Quest-Ritson meets Glenn Shapiro, a former sculptor and sheep breeder who was so taken with these little alpines she now holds the National Collection of Hepatica at Silverdale in Lancashire

The appearance of the first spring blossom is a much-anticipated seasonal landmark, capturing all the excitement and promise of this wonderful time of year. There is an overwhelming selection of sprin

Planting schemes should never stand still, so let’s reassess, reshape and reinvigorate

As the long nights shorten, Mounton House garden quietly emerges from winter with delicate sprinklings of white narcissi, Scilla siberica and crocuses through the lawns. Daphnes fill the air with frag

In spring, a beautiful eastern redbud tree (Cercis canadensis), its branches clothed from trunk to tip with cerise-purple flowers, steals the show at Sue Martin’s cottage garden in Cranbrook, Kent. It

Purple punctuates the planting: here an acer, verbena and some pinky-purple crinum, or swamp lily, stand out