Garden Visits

There are many wonderful gardens in the world. Over the last 10 years, I have travelled to see some of the best in England, Italy, France, Wales, Ireland, Holland, Belgium, Scotland, Spain and other parts of Europe as well as in Japan, China, Brazil, South Africa and Morocco. Here's a look at 66 of my favourites, from the lovely...

I remember the first time I met Agnes Mendoza. It was back in 2004. I was driving west along McGill in East Vancouver when I spotted this garden at the corner of Slocan. I had noticed it once before but this time it had grown considerably. I stopped and went and knocked on the door of the house and Agnes...

What few people know about Lawrence Johnston, the great British garden maker, is that he was almost left for dead on the battlefield during the First World War. A friend just happened to spot his body lying on the top of a pile of corpses and noticed that he was breathing. The friend called for help and Johnston was rescued...

I have been to the Keukenhof garden in Lisse outside Amsterdam a couple of times. The first time was in early April when the giant blocks of colour created by mass plantings of tulips and daffodils, mascari and hyacinths were at their peak. The second time was in May, just before I headed over to London for the Chelsea Flower...

My first visit to Villa d'Este was a long journey. Loraine and I took the train from Rome and then a bus for the final few miles up to Trivoli, the hill town where the garden is located. It took about two hours to get there, as I remember it, because of waits for the train and buses. The next time,...