My garden tours are a big hit
Over the past eight years, I have led 20 garden tours around the world. My first tour was a cruise around Italy and to Croatia, starting in Rome and visiting Florence and Sicily and...
Golden memories of great Welsh garden Powis Castle
In May, I will be taking a group to North Wales to see some of the loveliest gardens there.
One of them is Powis Castle garden, just outside Welshpool.
I have been there twice before. The...
Hedges damaged by heavy snows get the chop
We knew this would be the outcome. The heavy snow of winter crushed many plants, especially hedges throughout Metro Vancouver. We could see the damage right away. The snow came so fast overnight and...
Chelsea Flower Show 2017
Chelsea Flower Show, the classiest garden show in the world, will be held this year from May 23-27 on the famous Chelsea Hospital site next to the River Thames in London.
You can find out...
Protected: Longwood introduces another winning clivia
Longwood Gardens, the magnificent 1,077-acre garden estate built by Pierre du Pont, is a wonderful place to visit any time of year.
When I visited in March, the conservatory contained thrilling displays of orchids, echium,...
Philadelphia Flower Show was again a knockout
Philadelphia Flower Show, the world's oldest and biggest garden show, was again a huge success this year with the theme, Holland: Flowering the World, a homage to Dutch horticultural expertise.
It was the third time...
David Austin introduces more beautiful roses
Austin roses has introduced several new varieties over the past few years, including Sir Walter Scott, Desdemona, Roald Dahl, Bathsheba, The Ancient Mariner, Olivia Rose, The Lady of the Lake, Poet’s Wife and Imogen. To...
Six for success: Smart rules for gardeners.
Remember plants are living things.
If you neglect them, don’t feed them, don’t care for them, force them to live in the dark when they need light or in the hot sun when they...
Lovely gardens of Lawrence Johnston
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...
A visit to Holland’s gorgeous Keukenhof garden
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...
Bestselling gardening books
In 1997, Daphne Gray-Grant, an executive working for Pacific Press, came to me and asked if I had considered writing a book. I had been writing garden stories for The Vancouver Sun for about...
Villa d’Este: The world’s greatest water garden
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...
PHILADELPHIA 2014
On February 27, 2014, I took a group to Philadelphia, primarily to see the famous flower and garden show held there every spring, but also to visit some of the city’s historic sites and...
ENGLAND TOUR 2016
In May, 2016, I was in Shepherd’s Bush, London, meeting people at our hotel there to start a 12-day tour to the West Country and the Sicily Isles before returning to London for the...
SOUTHERN FRANCE 2013
Once the Southern Italy came to a happy conclusion in Catania, Sicily, we flew to Aix-en-Province to get ready for our next tour, one from Provence to the Cote d’Azure.
With a few advance days...
JAPAN 2014
In April, 2014, I took 42 people on a 14-day tour of Japan, starting out in Tokyo and ending in Kyoto, visiting many famous gardens and cultural highlights along the way.Our flight to Tokyo...
ENGLAND WEST COUNTRY TOUR 2010
In May, 2010, we did our first land-tour in England, starting out in London and going down to the West Country to see gardens in Somerset and Cornwall before heading back to London, via...
ITALY 2015 TOUR No. 1
In September, 2015, I led two tours back-to-back in Italy, starting in Venice and moving to Tuscany before continuing on to Puglia (in the heel of Italy) for the final days.
When we decided to...
SPAIN-MOROCCO 2014
In September, 2014, we went to Spain, where we first gathered for a few days in Madrid before heading south to Toledo, Cordoba, Seville and Granada, then crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into North...
FRANCE TOUR 2011/ No. 2
The hard part of doing back-to-back tours is that you have to say goodbye to one group and hello to a new group and show no loss of interest or energy or enthusiasm.
This...
