Gardening
Month by Month
Follow Michael’s ideas month by month through the gardening year. Using images taken over the past 25 years in his own and other gardens he shares his thoughts on plants and garden practice. Month by month different plants, both shrubs and perennials, can play a leading role in the garden, strongly altering its mood through the seasons.
Month by month a well planted garden should change its look, character and the mood it creates for its visitors. My aim is to celebrate each season starting with the fresh colour of low-growing spring bulbs, ending with the drama of tall flowering grasses and perennials in autumn and displaying a warm toned textured image throughout the winter months.
Month by month different plants come into flower; some low-growing, others growing tall by late summer. Shrubs and trees can play a part along with perennials, bulbs and also seed sown annuals. Our aim as garden designers is to combine these different plants into coherent, interesting and sustainable planting schemes that will determine the overall character of a garden space.
Gardening Month By Month is an illustrated record of my experiences over more than three decades gained in my own garden and gardens around the world that I have visited and admired. It is the product of a search through my photo archive, month by month, showing what plants are most effective within the wider context of the garden landscape. For every month I aim to highlight the possibilities and my own preferences.
Do not expect a list of every plant flowering in each month of the gardening year, but take inspiration from what you are seeing to select your preferred key players and decide how to combine them effectively with their neighbours.
The book also aims to guide you through the chores and tasks to be undertaken season by seasons: busy in spring and late summer or relaxing and making plans at other times. You will find your garden changes not only from month to month, but also from year to year. Take the time to stop and look around and enjoy the beauty that plants can bring into our lives.
