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Hermannshof: The German Genius for Goals and Gardens

Yes, they did it again. In early July, under the blinding stadium lights in Rio, Germany conquered Argentina with a soaring pass and mid-air kick to win the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The German team was so strong, the win seemed almost inevitable.

On a whirlwind visit to Germany last summer, I discovered they also make seriously innovative public gardens – and much like football, their greatness is no accident.

Each is the result of a highly diligent work ethic, meticulous research and planning, creativity, and a genius for practical innovation. One garden unites all these elements together into one exquisitely satisfying whole, while the other radically deconstructs them into something perhaps more strange than merely beautiful.

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Triple Dutch Feature: Deep, Deeper, Deepest

Ah. Welcome to the New Perennialist Theatre. Your seat is waiting. We have three remarkable art films ready for viewing – two short and the third is feature length.

Admission is free. Popcorn is strictly optional. Leave your secateurs at the door.

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Hearing is Believing: The Secret Life of Plants

No matter how much we think we know about plants, their actual behaviour is still in many ways an enigma wrapped in a mystery.

Take this recent study from the University of Missouri, which shows that plants can actually hear when insects are eating them and respond by defending themselves.

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Spring Theories: Ghost Deer in the Garden of the Mind

It’s now full-on spring in the sheltered woodland of my northern un-cottage garden.

The crabapple tree is weeping shell-pink blossoms as the red lady ferns unfurl from beneath its dappled shadow. Spiky filaments of Camassia and Allium light up the sunnier beds in a wandering halo of purple and blue.

If spring is about new life, it’s also about unearthing fresh ideas. With that in mind, here are my ‘spring theories’ – designed to either stir the imagination or stir the pot, as you will.

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Bringing Hummelo Home

How far will a keen perennial gardener go in the search for new ideas?

Lately, it’s far beyond my own garden gate, and recently involved plane, train and taxi rides all the way to the tiny village of Hummelo in the eastern Netherlands.

I arrived there early one morning last July to be welcomed by none other than Piet Oudolf, the silver-maned Dutch lion of modern landscape design, standing outside his rust-coloured brick farmhouse.

Thrilled to be there and yet not knowing quite what to expect, I was one of a diverse group of 25 landscape designers and avid gardeners from as far away as New Zealand, Argentina, Sweden, the U.S. and Europe there to participate in a one-day intensive planting design workshop led by Piet and his writerly counterpart, Noel Kingsbury.

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