In less than a month, I will be returning to Britain to assist my friend, Mick Induni, on a tour of English gardens May 14-23. We will be visiting Great Dixter, Hidcote, Sissinghurst, Stourhead and Wilsey. We end the tour with the Chelsea Flower Show in London. I think of myself as the "color commentator" to compliment the exceptional British tour guides who will be leading the tours. My mission will be to give an American perspective on how to incorporate ideas from the English gardening tradition into the participants' own gardens back in the states.
On one of our open nights in London, I have gotten tickets for the Gardens Illustarted lecture at the Royal Geographical Society. Peit Oudolf and Jinny Blom will be the speakers. I did this lecture a couple of years ago when Dan Pearson and Cleve West spoke and it was great. I am very excited to see Oudolf speak for the first time!
You can see the complete itinerary at Mick's website at The Best of English Gardens. He has a wide range of tours. For more information, see his website, Discover Europe.
The azaleas and rhododendrons should be at peak while we are visiting
The White Garden, one of the many garden rooms, at Hidcote Manor
The modern pool at Kiftsgate Court Gardens
The Grotto at Mill Dene, the private garden of The English Garden’s contributor Wendy Dare
The Palladian Bridge and Pantheon, at Stourhead
Rosemary Verey’s iconic Laburnum Walk at Barnsley House
Sissinghurst, the garden of poet/novelist Vita Sackville-West and her husband, historian Harold Nicolson
Great Dixter, the home and garden of the late plantsman, Christopher Lloyd
The Brewin Dolphin Garden, designed by Cleve West, won best in show last year at the Chelsea Flower Show
Tom Hoblyn received the RHS People’s Choice Award in 2012
Michael, have a great time. I'm green with envy, of course. I hope you'll send us reports and lots of photos.
ReplyDeleteJames,
DeleteI'll try to do some good reporting. Hopefully the lecture will be recorded by Gardens Illustrated like the last time.
Sounds like an amazing trip! I'm especially keen to hear about your experience at the Gardens Illustrated lecture - how lucky that the timing worked out.
ReplyDeleteI am especially excited to hear Oudolf talk. I suspect he will be discussing the planting philosophy in his new book, Planting: A New Perspective. I have been studying it so I will be prepared to take it all in.
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