In the pursuit of a picture-perfect garden, happiness can sometimes get forgotten, or left low down the ‘must do’ list. I am secretly planning a nature garden that echoes an important garden, the Japanese Gardens in Rivington, and this is an important garden to me for all the wrong reasons. It is a pleasure garden built by a millionaire who knew nothing about plants and promptly filled all the terraces with invasive Rhododendron ponticum, but for me this was the first garden that I loved to get lost in.
The monumental-towering rhododendron canopies dwarfed me, and the vibrant purple flowers sang to me. I was happy to be here, to be transported to another place - but it was also a warning about the pursuit of fashion, because given the…
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Amateur Gardening (Digital) - 1 Issue, 27-Apr-2024