I'm a writer, researcher, teacher, planting designer and occasional provocateur, largely known as a promoter of ecological planting design.
Horticulture
Unlike other forms of art, gardens need their gardener to keep their shape. So what happens when they are left to their own devices? When does a garden become an ex-garden? Noel revisits some old favourites and finds them changed.
Horticulture
Down on your hands and knees now and see what's happening at ground level !
Autobiography
I've never written about it before, and there is a lot to say.
Plantspeople
150 years since the birth of one of the world's most significant figures in garden history is an opportunity to find out more and assess his legacy.
Through the Garden Gates
Six years of a steep learning curve
Sustainability
Wildflower meadows are seductive for those with larger country gardens. But achieving good ones is difficult, and even then, they can still fail to satisfy. So, how can we make the most of them?
Garden history
I pursue my journey through the last 50-odd years of British garden history looking at how we loosened up through a range of planting styles - and discuss some surprising comparisons.
Plant profile
Has growing this given me more pleasure than anything else?
Planting Design
Mixed borders are an underappreciated and under-celebrated part of Britain's garden heritage and practice. Time to shout out for them!
Planting Design
The discussion of 'native' as opposed to 'introduced' plants in gardens and landscapes is an important one, but needs to be approached with caution, and very much from a local perspective.
Sustainability
The discovery of a dusty box containing a 1960s toy garden kit sends me off on a journey through 20th century garden history.
Plant profile
Much human ingenuity has been spent on a flower that truly spells spring.