The Gardener Magazine

The Gardener is a monthly, national magazine dedicated to inspiring gardeners, providing practical advice and showing step-by-step garden projects. Our monthly features include garden design, in-depth plant features, growing vegetables and herbs, water gardening, garden wildlife and pets, specialist plant articles and much more. We have an extensive database on our website that is growing daily.

WELCOME

On the shortlist for RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year

FRESH PICKS AND CLIPS

LETTERS

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COVER STORIES

A Garden in HARMONY • Nestled beneath the slopes of Muizenberg and nourished by the spring-fed Peck’s Stream, Coniston is no ordinary garden. It is a layered, living expression of decades of travel, memory, and botanical passion, transformed through vision, collaboration, and a deep connection to place.

GROW on the WALL • If you want lots of flowers in plantable concrete retaining wall blocks or lush stems and foliage cascading over dry stone walls, we have good plant suggestions for you!

WHAT TO PLANT NOW

Enduring and venerable trees • There cannot ever be a good reason not to plant a tree, and somewhere there is just the right tree for you…

Pink and pretty Pink colour shifters with hot appeal… • Colour pots containing perennials and annuals which are mature enough to flower already, are now available in garden centres. Use a selection of the pinkest pink for a mixed container. It will carry you through these last months of winter, straight into the promise of spring!

Daylilies make a comeback • Daylilies are making a comeback in 2025 with even more shapes, twists, ruffles, pleats, picotees, curves, and stunning colours and colour combinations. There are singles and doubles, big and small flowers, each unique, and yes, they only last a day! They do, however, have another flower bud just behind that one, ready to show off the next day.

Prepare for brilliance • Bedding plants have a special place in my heart. There’s something about the vibrant colours and instant impact they bring to outdoor spaces. They can add a pop of colour to a patio, create a lush border or attract pollinators to your garden. Another reason I adore bedding plants is their versatility and their ability to evoke emotions and create memories.

3 Winter legends • Here are the best ever reasons to plant them!

XEROGEMS • Water-smart gardeners would group their plants together based on their watering needs. So, let’s do that with indoor plants with these ‘xerogems’ – xero for dry and gems for their value as decoration and endurance.

Using akadama for good roots

The Princess and Obsession • It only takes two wonderful modern hybrids of old garden favourites to prepare a garden and containers for an unforgettable spring performance.

IN THE FOOD GARDEN

Planter boxes – a stylish solution for every garden • Many gardeners opt to eliminate garden beds and plant everything in pots, believing it requires less maintenance. But is this true?

Golden Oregano • Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum’, as its name suggests, is golden yellow in full sun and cool weather. These bright herbs are highly fragrant, with a classic oregano taste and aroma, and are often used in the kitchen for pasta and pizza. In summer, the yellow leaves will be covered with small pink and purple flowers.

Preserving apples

Sowing guides

THINGS TO DO IN THE GARDEN

How to feed birds in winter • Birds require high-energy food constantly to maintain their body temperature. Food can sometimes be scarce in winter in the garden, so supplementing their feeding is helpful. However, there is also a right and a wrong way to do it.

DIY FOR THE BIRDS

What to fertilise now • Whether you are growing your plants in a...