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MONTY DON: Coppicing isn’t just a great source of wood, it’s also a godsend for birds and plants

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Short cuts to success! It’s time to get your saw out – coppicing isn’t just a great source of wood, it’s also a godsend for birds and plants, says Monty Don British gardening expert Monty Don says Janaury is a great time for coppicing His plant of the week is the prickly customer known as … Read more

To the greenhouse! This is the time when a glasshouse comes into its own, says Monty Don

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After an extraordinarily wet first half of winter the garden is saturated. For us, frost is the best possible option between mid-November and mid-February because it at least ensures the ground will be dry.  This means we can get on with the winter pruning and walk around – let alone push wheelbarrows – without slipping … Read more

Monty Don has travelled the States in search of its greatest gardens for his new TV show

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Last year I visited the United States three times, filming for my American Gardens series, which starts this Friday on BBC2. I crammed in as many gardens as possible in that enormous country in my total of six weeks there.  But it’s not until you start to really travel around the States that you appreciate … Read more

From giant cacti to tiny beauties, drought-loving succulents steal the show, says Monty Don

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As we come to the end of this decade the rain is beating on my window and the fields in the distance are puddled with water – as they have been for the past few months.  It is wet, wet, wet. However, I get great pleasure from one group of plants that have adapted to … Read more

Peonies are the prettiest plants in the garden right now, says Monty Don

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There was a time when peonies were seen to be lovely but difficult.  They were members of the Awkward Squad, who objected to being told what to do and sulked badly if treated… well, treated any way at all.  So they became unfashionable and many gardeners were wary of growing them.  But, I’m glad to … Read more

Biographer recounts the Oxford don who spent his life investigating a seven-times married bigamist

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BIOGRAPHY THE PROFESSOR & THE PARSON    by Adam Sisman (Profile £12.99, 240 pp) The Oxford history don Hugh Trevor-Roper is chiefly remembered (poor man) for his one disastrous mistake: his brief authentication of the so-called ‘Hitler diaries’ in 1983. Anyone who enjoyed Adam Sisman’s 2010 biography of Trevor-Roper will be haunted by what must have … Read more

Frothy umbellifers are a rich source of food for wildlife, says Monty Don

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One day, when I am less busy – much, much less busy – I shall count up all the different plants that are in my garden.  There must be thousands of them, and some are rare and unusual although most are, by definition, easy to grow. We have a policy of not straining to keep … Read more

Set the tone for your garden with gorgeous grasses, says Monty Don

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After being inspired by my visits to many Islamic gardens in 2017, I began my own Paradise Garden last spring.  I’ve been making it gradually and to a very tight budget but it’s come along and is now ready for the next stage of planting. I have olives, pomegranates, apricots, oranges and lemons growing in … Read more

Monty Don: Lovely snakeshead fritillaries thrive in the wild in our wet grasslands

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One of my favourite plants is now at its best in my garden.  It started flowering early this year and only lasts a few weeks, but it is one of the loveliest, oddest and most exotic of all our native plants. It is the snakeshead fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris. It has nodding bells of flower, each … Read more