May

May 2012

The Garden

May 2012

The Garden

May 2012

The Garden

May 2012

The Garden

May 2012

The Garden

May 2012

The Garden

Gardens

• An informal approach

  Admiring its natural style, Janine Wookey explores rural Frith Old Farmhouse, Kent

• Spring splash

  Vanessa Berridge meets a gardener in South London who uses tulips for varied spring colour

• Living gardens: Part 2 Gardens are ecosystems

  In the Living Gardens series Part 2, Ken Thompson emphasises the ways in which gardens and wildlife interact

  Related links

  Get top tips on attracting wildlife to your garden

  

• Our Royal Patron

  Anticipating Diamond Jubilee celebrations and a Royal exhibit at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Tim Richardson summarises how gardening has changed over 60 years

Plants

• Peppery roots for any space

  We should all grow crunchy radishes, say Rebecca Bevan and Mario de Pace
  

• Welcoming in mourning widows

  Selections of Geranium phaeum are recommended by James Armitage

• Celebrating rainbow flowers

  Anne Blanco White on bearded irises chosen by the RHS Iris Sub-Committee

• Syringa komarowii

  Roy Lancaster describes a lilac named after Russian botanist Vladimir Komarov

• Suceed with... Dactylorhiza
  

  To learn more about these superb hardy orchids in the garden, Phil Clayton talks to orchid expert Jeff Hutchings

• Planting a brighter future

  Alastair Gunn explains why Itoh peonies are hybrids worth the price

  Related links

  More information on cultivation needs of intersectional peonies
  

  

Advice

• Impatiens downy mildew

  In a RHS Science update, Liz Beal confirms the current status of the disease, what to look for and what can be done

  Related links

  Read the full article (396kB pdf)

  

• Garden practice - hardening off

  How best to acclimatise plants to growing outdoors? Matthew Biggs unwraps several ways

  Related links

  Read the full article (465kB pdf)

  

• RHS Advice

  This month’s topics include alternatives to busy lizzies, controlling lily beetles, gherkins to grow in the open and keeping bamboos looking good - together with reminders of jobs for May

• Wildlife: common lizards

  Andrew Halstead  looks at common lizards