IN the swelter of last summer, a coolly ...

John Massey’s Ashwood Nurseries has been breeding superb hellebores for the past 35 years, and they are acknowledged to be the best in the world. It all began because John was looking for winter work

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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

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

Because we garden organically here, we are at the mercy of slugs and snails, which means we have good years and bad years when it comes to dahlias. We could lift them, grow them on, then plant them ou