In this episode, renowned nurserywoman and herb grower Jekka McVicar constructs her fantasy garden. She talks about bucking the trend by adopting organic and peat-free early on, and the challenges of growing plants for the Chelsea Flower Show. Jekka explains her love of Chinese garden design features such as moon gates and discusses the influence of the cookbooks her grandmother wrote. Unsurprisingly, Jekka’s imaginary Eden would be filled to the brim with herbs, but she would never allow a leylandii hedge.
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Jekka McVicar

If you could create your dream garden from pieces of all of your favourite places, and if you could grow any plants in the world, what would you choose? Who would you have as your imaginary head gardener, or garden designer?

In Talking Gardens, the podcast from the team behind Gardens Illustrated, host Stephanie Mahon asks the great and the good of the gardening world to construct their ultimate fantasy growing space.

Tune in to hear what Great Dixter’s head gardener Fergus Garrett, world-renowned garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith and garden writer Alice Vincent choose for their dream gardens.

Discover why head gardener Troy Scott-Smith is no longer watering the borders at Sissinghurst; why herb expert Jekka McVicar loves a moon gate; and how gardening saved the life of Charlie Harpur, head gardener at Knepp Castle Walled Garden.

We also learn what ethnobotanist James Wong’s imaginary Eden would look like, and what garden designer Sarah Price would never allow in her garden.

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Home & Garden

Leisure

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 find out why mirrors are her bugbear in the garden and her dream of a never-ending lunch al fresco.

Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more great garden inspiration and planting ideas, and become a member, at www.gardensillustrated.com 

Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review or comment, and let us know who you would next like to hear talking about their dream garden. 
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Miria Harris (Chelsea Special)

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 Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more great garden inspiration and planting ideas, and become a member, at www.gardensillustrated.com 

Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review or comment, and let us know who you would next like to hear talking about their dream garden. 
Follow now so you never miss an episode. 
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Ann-Marie Powell

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 life that led to him founding the not-for-profit organisation Grow 2 Know, challenging the gardening establishment and creating meaningful gardens in London and at the Chelsea Flower Show to help close the green gap and widen access to nature for more people.

Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more great garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com 

Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review or comment, and let us know who you would next like to hear talking about their dream garden. 
Follow now so you never miss an episode. 
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Tayshan Hayden-Smith

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.

Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com 

Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode. 


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Alan Titchmarsh

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 Talking Gardens podcast from Gardens Illustrated magazine, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday. Follow now to make sure you never miss an episode.
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Jekka McVicar

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