• Articles, books, chat lines, hints and plant information
• Garden ideas
• Gardens to visit
• Garden professionals
• Things to buy for your garden
• Nature and Wildlife
• Miscellaneous

Articles, books, chat lines, hints and plant information

AbsonArt - www.absonart.com.au Inspirational and beautiful bronze sculpture which positively affects your environment. Free standing and wall-mountable pieces available

www.raffaellobencini.com This work has been one of Hugh's design influences - the opening photograph is the Te (pronounced 'tea') Palace by Giulio Romano, pupil of Raffaello Sanzio, located in the city of Mantova

The BBC Plant Finder is a very useful resource. Look up detailed information about thousands of plants using their searchable database - you will find descriptions of the plants and tips about growing them.

The British Geological Survey bookshop has its full range of maps and books available on-line - so you can order a geological map for your local area (in the UK).

Devon County Council have a site about Japanese Knotweed - Britain's most invasive non-native plant. This web site is designed to help you find the information you need to help you recognize and deal with Japanese Knotweed, and its relatives

If you are looking for a good magazine specifically about the quintessential English garden, we suggest you visit English Garden - the magazine for everyone who loves beautiful gardens!

The Garden Books by Post site offers free postage within the UK and has a range of special offers on gardening books.

The Garden Fountains Chronology - a web page describing the chronology of important fountains over the centuries.

The Historic Gardens Review is the voice of historic parks and gardens worldwide, and is published three times a year by the Historic Gardens Foundation. The print version is sent to all Members of the Foundation. In order to receive the print version of the Review, you must first become a Member of the Foundation. Members also receive a Newsletter three times a year, containing event information and special offers on book and garden visits.

Here is an informative article about pruning techniques from the Texas A&M University. Proper pruning enhances the beauty of almost any landscape tree and shrub, while improper pruning can ruin or greatly reduce its landscape potential.

We have gathered together all the Suite 101's Sissinghurst Castle article links on our site - very informative.

Garden ideas

Take a look at the Suite 101's Garden Design articles page for well-written articles on all aspects of garden design.

If you wish that you could get some help and advice free from other gardeners, then try Suite 101's Garden Center which has chat rooms between gardeners and useful articles - all free of charge. The garden center is just one section of this American site where "Real People Help Real People".

Gardens to visit

If you are interested to know the location of gardens open to the public across the world, or just want to browse garden information, then try Garden Visit.

The National Gardens Scheme raises over a million pounds a year for nearly a dozen charities, through private gardens opening to the public.

For extensive coverage of the gardens created by Vita Sackville-West & Harold Nicolson , take a look at Sissinghurst Castle.

Here is a link to our page called Some World Gardens which has links to my personal recommendations.

Garden professionals

This is the site of one of the leading professional organisations for garden designers in the world, the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. Members of this prestigious organisation are permitted to use the letters APLD after their names and display the organisation's logo.

Cathedral Communications maintain the Building Conservation site which contains thousands of suppliers of products, services and information for the preservation, conservation and restoration of historic buildings, churches and garden landscapes.

The Carbon Trust is a private company set up by Government in response to the threat of climate change. Our mission is to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy by developing commercial low carbon technologies and working with business and the public sector to reduce carbon emissions.

This is the site for the Federation of Master Builders. You can search the FMB's database, containing more than 12,500 members, and you may contact up to five UK builders, who will be sent your details.

The John Grimes Partnership Ltd is a civil, structural, marine and specialist geotechnical & materials engineering Consultancy based in Ivybridge, Devon.

Water-Lines - delivering fresh solutions to erosion and environmental projects. Water-Lines is a highly experienced partnership of design and installation experts working on major contracts throughout the UK with blue chip construction operations and leading developers.

If you are seeking to become a professional garden designer, courses in Landscape Design are run by the University of Gloucester. There is also an interesting design article about the use of proportion in architecture at About Scotland.

Things to buy for your garden

Aegean Pottery - Aegean Pottery specialises in the import of handmade terracotta pots and urns from Crete where the ancient art of pot throwing has been handed down since the days of the Minoan civilisation.

Alitex Glasshouses - Alitex claim to be "Creators of the world's finest Glasshouses". A visit to this site will tell you why their glasshouses are the choice of country estates, private houses, universities, agricultural colleges, public gardens, embassies, hotels and leisure parks - including Royal gardens and the Royal Horticultural Society's own gardens at Wisley in Surrey, England.

Julia Barton - Julia takes on commissions and design work for local councils, hospital trusts and private companies. Recently she has focused on simple and intensive garden art sculpture with substantial growing elements. The Axis visual arts site also covers her work and motivation and the BBC Gardening website features her as one of its designers. (If the BBC link expires, click here for a PDF version - you will need the free Adobe Acrobat reader to view this page).

If you are a proud owner of a rose garden, you will need to see Peter Beales Classic Roses featuring over 1,100 varieties of classic roses, embracing shrub, bush, climbing, rambling and ground cover roses. Bronze Sculptures - Showing work of original sculpture and limited editions in the UK including Michael Rizzello OBE, James Butler RA, and John Baldwin. Fagin's Antiques are an excellent source of items for the garden, including gates, fountains, bronzes and pots. They are very local to me, and thus I can provide a location service for identifying suitable garden items. The photo shows a fountain I sourced from them recently.

Looking for innovative garden and exterior lighting? Visit GC Designs whose lights have a choice of bases in oak, American black walnut or stainless steel. If you are looking for good quality garden stonework, here is the site of the world's leading manufacturer of fine ornamental and architectural cast stonework Haddonstone. HLD- Landscape engineering in timber. Joinery crafted from selected timbers, sourced from managed and sustainable forests, the HLD range includes award-winning standard products, complemented by custom-designed structures, which challenge the parameters of timber design. A fine example of a single line pergola, in a client's garden, is shown on the left. Maria Starling Mosaics - Beautiful hand made mosaics for private, hospitality and corporate commissions. London based mosaic artist Maria Starling can create a wide range of decorative mosaic features for walls, floors and pools. If you need help with paving, you might like to visit the paving advice pages of AJ McCormack & Son, who claim to be the web's most comprehensive guide to UK paving, drainage and hard-landscaping techniques MULTI-SHARP specialise in Sharpening Tools for the Gardener and DIY’er, and have been manufacturing them in the UK for over 25 years. Sharpeners for almost every tool in the house and garden. For a good selection of outdoor furniture, take a look at The Modern Garden Company. Contemporary furniture for outdoor spaces, spas, motor yachts, poolsides and terraces.

Quercus Oak Fencing - Stylish & sustainable oak fencing - a modern hybrid design between a fence & a hurdle. Great for exposed positions. No maintenance!

If you are having erosion problems, then visit the North American Green web site. They state "Manufacturing quality erosion control blankets is our only business". A comprehensive site on erosion control.

If you are looking for children's play equipment for the garden, take a look at the climbing frames and playhouses from Rainbow Play

If you need a pondliner, take a look at Stevens Plastics.

Take a look at Stonebank if you need good quality ornamental ironwork.

For a comprehensive listing of bricks, masonry, paving, terracotta cladding, roofing, stone and timber products for your garden, take a look at Taylor Maxwell.

Try this site if you fancy some Tuscan terracotta pots Tuscan Imports.

Nature and Wildlife

Adopt an Otter! - The International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF) was inspired by observing otters in their true natural habitat. Because the otter lives on land and in the water and is at the peak of the food chain it is an ambassador species to a first class environment. IOSF was set up to protect and help the 13 species of otter worldwide through a combination of compassion and science. It supports projects to protect otters, which will also ensure that we have a healthy environment for all species, including our own..

Miscellaneous

Forex-Trading-Strategies.org - Business Resources - a useful links directory.