This time, Steph is talking to Tom Coward, head gardener at Gravetye Manor garden in Sussex. Now a luxury hotel, it was once the home of gardener and writer William Robinson, who dominated the Victorian gardening scene with his books The English Flower Garden and The Wild Garden. Tom chooses what he would like in his dream garden, his passion for plants and who he would have at his fantasy dinner party. Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden...
Jun 09, 2025•49 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Horticulturist, author and garden journalist Alys Fowler joins Steph to discuss her dream garden and her new garden in Wales. She discusses the importance of ‘living with your rubbish’ and gives her perspective on rewilding, as well as revealing why she believes she may come from a long line of bog-dwellers. Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com Subscribe to Gardens Illustrated ma...
Jun 02, 2025•58 min•Season 5Ep. 7
James Hitchmough, planting maestro and Emeritus Professor of Horticultural Ecology at the University of Sheffield joins Steph to talk about his dream garden, and his own new garden he is creating in Somerset. James discusses all the places he has travelled to to see gardens and plants and the people he has met along the way, plus why he likes growing from seed and what started him on his career path in the first place. Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find ...
May 26, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Jo Thompson, award-winning garden designer, joins Steph to talk about her fantasy garden. From her love of roses to her penchant for romantic gardens and her love of Italy, where she spent a lot of time as a child, in this episode we discover more about how Jo is always juggling so much from her new book to her Substack community and garden designs. Find out what inspired her to come out of Chelsea Flower Show retirement to do one more show garden this year, for The Glasshouse, and what advice s...
May 19, 2025•58 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Designer Tom Massey joins Steph to talk about his Chelsea Flower Show garden that includes mycelium walls and AI that makes trees talk. He reveals the gardens and landscapes that have influenced him most, from the Cornwall hideaway where he spent his childhood holidays to Richmond Park in London and the special Japanese island he will never forget. Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrate...
May 12, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Garden designer Manoj Malde speaks with Steph about his dream garden and his inspirations for it, including Jardin Majorelle in Morocco and Lotusland in California, as well as the landscape of Crete and the work of designers Steve Martino and Juan Grimm. Discover what it was like to get married at the Chelsea Flower Show and what he has in store for his show garden there this year. Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and plant...
May 05, 2025•49 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Legendary plantswoman and TV presenter Carol Klein talks to Stephanie about her life and career, her hatred of garden makeover shows and miniature plants, her recovery from cancer last year and why Valerie Finnis once gave her a banana as a consolation prize. Find out what and who she would have in her fantasy garden and when she plans on retiring. Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrate...
Apr 28, 2025•50 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Steph talks to lauded landscape designer Dan Pearson about his dream garden and what he would want to include in his fantasy space, from a temple garden in Kyoto and the landscape of Joshua Tree National Park to the architecture of Mexico and the high glades of the Himalaya. He talks through his design process and the plants he would love to grow, and discusses how to manage client’s expectations and some of his new projects plus why he can’t stand tennis courts. Talking Gardens is created by th...
Apr 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 1
What would you have in your dream garden? That's what we ask our guests on Talking Gardens, the podcast from Gardens Illustrated. We've got more amazing guests this season with top designers going for gold at the Chelsea Flower Show, as well as much-loved gardeners and expert plants people who will be telling all about their fantasy growing spaces. Discover Dan Pearson's approach to garden design, why Manoj Malde left fashion for horticulture, how Tom Massey is bringing AI into our gardens, and ...
Apr 14, 2025•49 sec
This special bonus episode was recorded with a live audience at the Garden Museum in London. Stephanie talks to new guest Sarah Raven and returning listener favourite Nigel Slater about their fantasy gardens. Nigel has the chance to add all the small things he forgot when he first constructed his dream garden, including a mossy rill and a climbing plant. We hear why Sarah would also include a rill in her dream garden, but how it would be different to Nigel’s as her space would be set into the hi...
Dec 17, 2024•58 min•Season 4Ep. 9
In this episode of Talking Gardens, Stephanie talks to Swedish garden designer Ulf Nordfjell about his fantasy space. From the Villa Gamberaia in Tuscany and the enduring influence of the Renaissance on his work, to his love of the flora local to his home in northern Sweden, we hear about all of the things he would have to include in his dream garden. Learn why he was blown away by the Noguchi Garden in California and why garden gnomes would never be allowed through the garden gate. He also tell...
Dec 10, 2024•42 min•Season 4Ep. 8
In this episode Stephanie talks to award-winning garden designer Jinny Blom about her fantasy garden. Jinny chooses the plants, places and people that would make up her dream garden, from her experiences exploring Hidcote in the 1960s to why she’d have to include a piece of the Atacama Desert. We learn why a fountain in Italy inspired her so much she’s recreating it in her own garden as a space for birds to enjoy and how she chopped down one of her neighbour’s retirement presents. Learn why Jinn...
Dec 03, 2024•47 min•Season 4Ep. 7
In this episode Stephanie talks to John Little about his fantasy garden. We learn why community spaces would be a key, even in his dream garden, and hear about the work he’s done to bring greenery to communities in urban settings throughout his career. Listen to John struggling to choose between a sandpit and an industrial site as a landscape he’d like a piece of for his fantasy space and hear him talk about the places he played in as a child that have influenced him. Hear why he’d have to inclu...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Floral designer Shane Connolly joins Talking Gardens this time to talk about sustainable floristry, his own garden in Worcestershire and the places he would have to include a piece of in his dream garden, from Villa Cimbrone in Italy and The Mezquita of Cordoba in Spain to Glenarm Castle garden in Northern Ireland. The renowned event florist, who holds the Royal Warrant and was famously commissioned for two royal weddings, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and HM The King’s Coronation, also explains ...
Nov 19, 2024•52 min•Season 4Ep. 5
In this episode, award-winning garden designer Butter Wakefield constructs her fantasy garden. From the landscape of Maine to the gardens at Chatsworth, we learn about all of the things she would have to include in her fantasy space. Find out more about Butter’s career, from starting out at Christie’s to her training in garden design and learn how she acquired her unique name. Butter tells us all about her favourite garden plants and why she’s a maximalist and we find out why she would never all...
Nov 12, 2024•56 min•Season 4Ep. 4
No-dig gardening guru Charles Dowding creates his dream garden from all of the places he has been and seen. We find out why he loves the landscapes of the island of Iona in Scotland, his adventures in growing in France and Wales, and how he discovered the no-dig method. Discover his tips on building your social media and learn about Charles’ tried-and-tested methods of composting - plus, what he would never allow into his dream garden. Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrate...
Nov 05, 2024•48 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Plantswoman Rosy Hardy creates her fantasy garden from all of the landscapes and places that have inspired her. From the sunken garden in Edinburgh owned by her childhood neighbour to Amazon Spheres in Seattle and the Patagonian mountains, we hear about how all of the things would play a role in her dream garden. Find out how her nursery Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants was started out of a car boot and why she dug up her backyard, and discover what it takes to create an award winning plant exhibit...
Oct 29, 2024•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 2
Gardener and broadcaster Monty Don joins us on Talking Gardens to talk about his fantasy growing space. From the design of Wollerton Old Hall in Shropshire to the character of Balmoral Cottage in Kent, and the dramatic views of a Fernando Caruncho design in Greece, Monty shares his favourite spots with us. Get insights into his never-seen second, secret garden, why he rails against the morality of rewilding and how having an opinion works with presenting the Chelsea Flower Show coverage (spoiler...
Oct 21, 2024•51 min•Season 4Ep. 1
What does your fantasy garden look like? That’s what we ask our guests on the Talking Gardens podcast. This season we’ve got an amazing new line up of top gardeners, designers, plantspeople and flower fanatics telling us all about their dream growing spaces and the plants, people and tools they couldn’t live without. Tune in to hear what national treasure Monty Don really thinks about rewilding, and for no-dig guru Charles Dowding's top composting tips. This season, we'll also be talking to laud...
Oct 14, 2024•44 sec
This time, Stephanie visits HuntingBrook Gardens in Co. Wicklow, Ireland, to chat to owner Jimi Blake about his dream garden. Discover why he wants to live in a glass box and the places his fantasy corridors would lead to, from New Zealand to South America, and Chanticleer Garden to the Dixter plant fair. Find out how Jimi dodges bears while botanising, the ways that HuntingBrook has changed over the years, and how going to train as a gardener was life saving for him. We also hear why his imagin...
Jun 25, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Broadcaster, smallholder and author Kate Humble constructs her fantasy garden in this episode. From an origami version of Yellowstone National Park to Dicken from The Secret Garden and Popham’s Arboretum in Sri Lanka, Kate tells Stephanie all about the landscapes, people and gardens that have influenced her. Find out more about how she became a TV presenter, how she knows that Sharon Stone has a big head and the best thing to do when you come across someone wild swimming naked in a river; as wel...
Jun 17, 2024•42 min•Season 3Ep. 8
In this episode, lauded planting designer Professor Nigel Dunnett describes all the things he would have to include in his dream garden, from wildflowers to birdsong, and where Claude Monet and David Bowie would fit into his garden fantasies. We hear about what it was like to create his famous projects including Superbloom at the Tower of London, the gardens at the Barbican, Sheffield Grey to Green and plantings at the Olympic Park, as well as details about his own garden on a north-facing slope...
Jun 11, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 7
In this episode, Katy Merrington, cultural gardener at The Hepworth Wakefield gallery garden in Yorkshire, constructs her dream garden - in fact, her dream world, which is a place where the streets of our towns and cities are green and welcoming. Discover who would be on Katy’s ultimate fantasy gardening team; why she thinks we need to reconsider ivy; and what a napping tree is. Tune in to learn how she manages looking after an urban space that’s open 24/7, 365 days a year; why the north of Engl...
Jun 03, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 6
In this episode, garden designer Andy Sturgeon picks all the things he’d love to have in his fantasy garden - a crazy multiverse of different climate zones and garden styles from a jungle to a desert and a traditional space with topiary and roses… and monkeys. Discover what floral event he’s desperate to see; which international designers he would have help create his dream space; why he wants a fern house; and his thoughts on the sticky subject of sustainability in garden design. Learn about ho...
May 27, 2024•39 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Garden designer Miria Harris tells us what she would choose for her fantasy garden, from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water in Pennsylvania, to roses and the ocean. Discover how she made the leap to a career in garden design via work experience with Jinny Blom, and why she admires Edwardian garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. Miria recounts her personal story of experience of stroke and explains how it led to her designing a show garden for the Stroke Association at the Chelsea Flower Show. Plus fi...
May 18, 2024•46 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Designer Ann Marie-Powell is our guest this time, talking to Stephanie about the inspirations for her dream garden, including the wild character of the gardens at Waltham Place in Berkshire and her imaginary party ‘camp’ with hammocks, teepees, a hot water tap and chef. Discover what she would grow in her fantasy greenhouse, who she’s got a girl crush on and the inside scoop on her Chelsea Flower Show garden for the National Trust. Plus, who is the latest object of her Insta stalking? Talking Ga...
May 14, 2024•47 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this episode we hear from Tayshan Hayden-Smith, the footballer turned community gardener and activist, who tells Stephanie about the landscapes and people that have inspired him, including Meanwhile Gardens and his mum. Discover why he loves the buzz and energy of urban environments, with pavement plants growing in the cracks and crevices, and why he believes we need to rethink what we consider a garden to be. He explains how the fire at Grenfell Tower in London was a turning point in his lif...
May 06, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Alan Titchmarsh MBE - gardener, broadcaster, author and national treasure - talks to Stephanie about the gardens, places, people and plants that he would like to include in his dream garden, from a tiny cottage garden on the coast of Cornwall to York Gate garden near Leeds and the ultimate summerhouse at Wolverton Hall. Discover which famous designer he would like to ask to create his little piece of paradise, what he really thinks of rewilding and why his legs are censored in North Korea. Talki...
Apr 29, 2024•47 min•Season 3Ep. 1
What would you include in your dream garden? On this season of Talking Gardens, that’s what we asked all new gardening guests, from Alan Titchmarsh to Kate Humble, and Tayshan Hayden-Smith to Nigel Dunnett. Discover who would want a napping tree and a cup of tea that never goes cold; who Ann-Marie Powell has been Insta-stalking; why garden designer Andy Sturgeon would need an entire multiverse to create his dream garden; and how gardener Jimi Blake dodges bears while botanising. That’s the Talki...
Apr 26, 2024•3 min
In this episode, garden designer and TV presenter Arit Anderson creates her dream garden, choosing the wow factor of Dan Hinkley’s Wyndcliffe garden on the sea and a West Country sunset. Discover what she thinks about in-between planting, her cold and soggy childhood holidays in the Lake District, how she finds being on TV, and what she means by ‘shade-loving’ people. Tune in to find out why Arit would love a bluebell meadow and the reason she would never allow leaf blowers in her fantasy space,...
Dec 05, 2023•57 min•Season 2Ep. 8
