Then it comes to buying, seeing or enjoying things these days, it is the experience that we are being sold as much as the ‘thing’ itself; the buzz word is experiential. Key brands have concept stores, virtual reality headsets offer a location or activity often far beyond our own limitations, and the major paintings of some of our greatest artists are being experienced as large-scale animations that bring the images to life and take our imaginations in new directions with new insights. As gardeners though, it’s good to remember that we can achieve our own fully immersive experience in our gardens – a space to be surrounded by plants that bloom and grow, where we share that space with family, friends and wildlife; where past, present and future are right before our eyes and where we can play a role and learn from what’s around us.
All our gardens featured this month share that immersive quality. As part of the re-envisioning of the gardens at Chatsworth, Tom Stuart-Smith has re-engaged visitors to Paxton’s immense Rock Garden; narrow winding paths, fulsome planting and towering rocks create a strong sense of place (page 68). At Stokesay Flowers (page 36), owners
Barney and VictoriaMartin have surrounded themselves in the romance of ‘extraordinary English garden flowers’. Part 2 of our series
fromAlys Fowler on soil encourages us to immerse our hands in the earth (page 100), while a small city garden (page 94) cleverly creates a forest-edge feel with a light, airy tree canopy and restful planting.
We hope you enjoy the experience

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NitroFlare

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