The Sussex Prairies Garden also happens to be one of our favourite gardens, renowned for its dramatic drifts of late summer-flowering perennials.

The Garden House will be there – ready to discuss our forthcoming (and very exciting) Christmas and 2012 courses, workshops, garden visits and talks (evening talk with Fergus Garrett at GH on 23 March 2012!).  We’ll also be selling GH-made preserves and a variety of seeds and plants.

Plant exhibitors include:

• DESIRABLE PLANTS – Specialising in herbaceous perennials, Epimedium and other woodlanders, Galanthus, Watsonia, Gladiolus, Tritonia and other South African Iridaceae, outh African Erica, Sanguisorba, Geranium, Hedychium and Roscoea. www.desirableplants.com
• SCARECROW PLANTS – Out of the ordinary plants, English Native wildflowers and plants to attract wildlife. Also hand-made local ironwork and trellis. 07939 272443
• RAPKYNS NURSERY – All grown in their traditional nursery – a unique and exciting range of quality and unusual cottage garden plants. 01825 830065

Art exhibitors include:

• ANNEMARIE O’SULLIVAN – whose passion lies in all things woven, knotted and netted, will be showing baskets and larger woven forms. www.annemarieosullivan.co.uk
• FRANCES DOHERTY  – extraordinary ceramics based on the forms of fruiting bodies, flowers and particularly seedpods. Richly glazed to complement the form and often combined with metal and reclaimed sea defence timber. www.francesdoherty.co.uk
• CHRIS BURCHELL COLLINS – A Blacksmith and Green Woodworker whose work is influenced by the wonderful forms and shapes found in nature.
• JANINE CREAYE – will be bringing many new small sculptures for gardens and interiors. Stylised and patterned wood carving, stone carving and drawings of natural forms. www.sculptureform.co.uk
• HOLLY BELL – wheel-thrown functional ceramics including jugs, tea-sets and planters. www.hollybell.co.uk

And many, many more – a great chance to source some amazing plants and artifacts for you, your house and your garden! For more information visit www.sussexprairies.co.uk

Cleve West’s garden for The Daily Telegraph was awarded Best Show Garden – quite an accolade and well deserved, this was a beautiful garden and one of our favourites.  We always expect the unexpected with Cleve’s gardens, yet they still have recognisable qualities – strong sculptural forms (last year remember those huge concrete planters? And the year before his dementia-friendly sensory garden with a giant sculptured ball at its centre?), moving water and sensitive planting.

This year his garden’s warm off-yellow plastered and dry-stone walls and flowing water framed an open space containing three 10ft high columns by French artists Serge Bottagisio and Agnès Decoux, with one lying on the ground, that appeared to be ruins but in fact mix the old and new in concrete and terracotta.

The planting looked so unconscious, almost self-seeded in effect, and the colouring exquisite – a soft blend of yellows, silvers and soft-whites – highlighted by the occasional dark red-pink Dianthus cruentus, grasses and airy umbellifers (including parsnip flowers from his own allotment!). Specimen trees of Styphnolobium japonicum (the Japanese pagoda tree), gave scale to the planting, rising up from the sunken gravel area to soften the effect of the monolithic columns.

Check out the display of Sussex apples, buy a rare Sussex apple tree, or bring along your mystery apple for identification. Look out for cookery demos and orchard tours, watch traditional apple pressing and enjoy apples (of course!), cakes, cider and apple juice, or visit the tea garden.

The event has been organised by Action in Rural Sussex and Brighton Permaculture Trust as part of Local Fruit Futures - a three-year project to train over 1000 people in fruit tree planting and care and in fruit cookery, plant a further 36 small school and community orchards, propagate hundreds of Sussex variety apple trees, plant examples of all these apples at Stanmer Park orchard and make it more accessible, and produce two publications, based partly on research by the University of Sussex into the history of fruit growing in Sussex.

Open: 11am – 5pm

Location: By the farmhouse/orchard/church at stanmer park

Travel: Travel by public transport if you can.  Bus 78 from Brighton.  Trains to Falmer, a mile’s walk away.

Further details: www.permaculture.co.uk

I don’t go to therapy, instead I garden. It keeps me calm, I can work through all my issues and have imaginary arguments in the greenhouse where no one can hear me and I always win. The plants respond well to the attention and there are weeks when I spend more time nurturing my seedlings than my family.

The other advantage of gardening is meeting other gardeners, who are all too willing to share their interest in growing things and often give you stuff, in the form of cuttings and bits of leaf to identify. This weekend we went to the Garden Gadabout in a very sunny Brighton where we met some fabulous enthusiasts eager to share their green spaces.

We saw a number of interesting trends…..

• The new shed - everyone’s got a fancy room-in-the-garden shed, with sofas/internet connection/curtains
• Vegetables in raised beds – everywhere but everywhere
• Potatoes in bags/containers – apparently easy and prolific
• Beech sticks as wigwams for climbers (prettier than bamboo)
• Chickens – who have their own fancy coups if they’re lucky
• Seating areas – loads of them everywhere
• Recycled boxes/tins/sacks are the new pots
• Mosaics – from small to complex, black and white or multi coloured
• Creating your own seed packets and hand drawing the floral fronts
• Cakes – it seems all gardeners can cook cakes and make excellent lemonade

Here are some of the photos taken this weekend…

…and don’t forget the Garden Gadabout (private gardens opening in aid of the charity Susssex Beacon) is happening again weekend 3rd/4th July.

Note from GG coordinator Bridgette Saunders: “As usual The Sussex Beacon’s garden will be opening Saturday 3rd July. Come and visit us and see the changes that have taken place. You’ll receive a warm welcome and have the opportunity to visit the gardens of this unique centre. There will be stalls, a tombola and of course cream teas to buy and enjoy whilst 
relaxing in tranquil surroundings. All the funds raised from The Garden Gadabout come directly to The Sussex Beacon.”

Check their website for details www.gardengadabout.org.uk

Of course when the wellie’s on the other foot – nothing gives us more pleasure than exploring someone else’s garden, loved and nurtured over many years, or newly created and full of potential and exciting ideas…

If you possibly can, keep the weekends of 26/27 June and 3/4 July free – two weekends when over sixty beautiful private gardens and community spaces will be opening their gates for this year’s Sussex Beacon Garden Gadabout.  Many are in Brighton and Hove – but also as far afield as Lewes, the village of Rodmell, and to the east, Peacehaven and Seaford.

There are an extraordinary variety of outdoor spaces to enjoy.  New gardens join the best from last year – visit overflowing allotments, community spaces, shady nooks and courtyard gardens, large expansive gardens, gardens where creativity is key, and gardens where plants come first – all hidden gems waiting to be explored…

Many offer delicious homemade cakes and refreshments, plants for sale, jams and honey – even sales of local artworks.

So whether you’re an experienced gardener, keen novice, or simply want to come along to see what your neighbours have done with a space similar to your own – check the website, look out for the free booklet, and start planning your trails!  www.gardengadabout.org.uk

All proceeds from the weekends go to the Sussex Beacon, a unique centre providing innovative services to meet the changing needs of men and women living with HIV. www.sussexbeacon.org.uk

Reflecting his love of gardens, Dan’s work beautifully expresses the colour, textures and form of groups and individual plants. This, combined with his respect for the pattern making of the Aborigine and of other indigenous global cultures, gives his work a unique and unexpected quality. www.dan-bennett.co.uk

Abstracted plant forms that sway and move before the eyes, vibrant colour that literally bursts from the canvas – we love the intensity of his work.

At this year’s Open Houses Dan will also be exhibiting his rock paintings for the first time:  “My art practice is currently undergoing a transition. Although I am still deeply inspired by the prehistoric symbols that can be found etched onto rocks by our global ancestors, I have recently become as interested in the rock itself. This interest expresses itself as a desire to climb and paint these ancient structures so as to better understand them. I have found that by physically moving across their surfaces I have gained a deeper intuitive knowledge about the world in general, in a similar way in which painting helps me understand the world. The mechanics of forces, levers, tension and friction which are involved in rock climbing have led to moments of inspiration which I am currently pursuing in my painting.”

There’s still time to catch Dan’s exhibition – Sunday 16 and the following weekend 22/23 May. Open from 11am to 5pm,  Studio 106 is located at 106 Coleridge Street, Hove, BN3 5AA. www.studio106.co.uk

Amongst a group of textile artists, ceramicists, painters, mosaicists and jewellers, Lindy also shows the work of several artists whose work adorns the outside space.  Chris Murphy makes ceramic bird houses, feeders and ornamental garden conicals, Jo Brook makes ceramic garden pots and birdbaths, and Sue Samways makes mosaic lawn dials and garden tables.

Decorative garden ironwork is made by Steven Betridge (wonderful for clambering Clematis), and deckchairs customized with patchworked fabrics are made by Lindy Craig-Hall herself (wonderful for lounging!).

Special note: Jewellery-maker Val Shore is also showing at Lindy’s – Val will be leading a jewellery-making workshop at The Garden House on the evening of 14 June.  Check the DIARY on this website for details.

Address: Lindy Craig-Hall, 31 Preston Park Avenue, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 6HG

Open: Weekends of 8 & 9 May, 15 & 16 May and 22 & 23 May (11am to 5pm).

Frances is the second artist to be featured in our celebration of local creators whose work captures the beauty of plant- or garden-related subjects.  We love her observational style and ability to capture and exaggerate the sculptural forms of seed-heads, pods and fruiting bodies.

Working in stoneware, Frances uses richly iridescent glazes chosen to compliment the form, making the pieces glow with colour.  Her work is high fired so that the pieces can go into an interior or exterior environment.

“My inspiration comes from flowers and plants that we see all around us, in gardens, fields, even cracks in the pavement. I particularly love the secret worlds inside these flowers, in the patterns and textures hidden away that give a continuing sense of promise and renewal.”

The images shown here were taken at the Life Cycle Sculpture Trail at the Ventnor Botanic Gardens, Isle of Wight, during summer 2009.

As part of the Brighton Open Artists Houses festival Frances will be exhibiting at 31 Havelock Road,
Brighton, part of the Five Ways Artists Group. www.fivewaysartists.com

During the festival, Frances will also be showing some of her sculpture in the front gardens of Havelock Road, starting from Mrs Moles Flower Emporium and then going up Havelock Road at numbers, 13,14,18,29,31 and 64.

See more of Frances’s work at www.francesdoherty.co.uk

Check out all this years Artists Open Houses at www.aoh.org.uk

To celebrate and contribute to the event, we thought we would highlight a few of the local artists and sculptors whose work has a place in the garden, or who specialize in painting or creating plant forms.

Brighton-based sculptor Jo Sweeting is a particular favourite of ours.  Her work is bold yet incredibly sensitive, and works so well in a garden setting.

Jo works mainly in British limestone, the subject matter often figurative or based on forms from the landscape, using words and poetry to highlight particular thoughts, events or celebrations.  Her bowl forms are particularly striking.  We also love her small pebbles, carved with hearts, feathers or letters.

Jo is showing at 28 Florence Road, Brighton – the home of Jo Riddells, and on the Beyond The Level trail (open all four weekends in May 11am-5pm). Definitely a ‘don’t miss’ art house!

Jo works and teaches at Skelton Workshops at Streat, near Ditchling.  She also runs classes from her own lovely studio at 72 Ashford Road, Fiveways, Brighton

Just to note: On the weekend of 3/4 July Jo will be holding another Open House at 72 Ashford Road, exhibiting the work of eight local artists.  Plus you’ll be able to see the newly designed garden created by Plantsman and designer Paul Bradford, with plants supplied by Miss Moles Emporium.  See more of Jo’s work at www.josweetingsculpture.com

Check out all this years Artists Open Houses at www.aoh.org.uk

If you are wondering what to plant, considering growing your own vegetables or need to identify a pest or disease, then come along and join what promises to be a fun and enlightening evening. Thursday 13 May 7.30pm – 9.30pm.

The panel of horticultural experts is second to none:

• Graham Gough – who, supported by his partner Lucy Goffin, created the magical garden and nursery at Marchants Hardy Plants in Laughton, Sussex.
• Ed Ikin – head gardener at Nymans Garden and a strong advocate of biodynamics, planting according to the lunar calendar.
• Liz Dobbs – London-based gardening writer and editor of Gardens Monthly, whose books include Garden Makeovers and The Essential Garden.
• Julie Hollobone – is assistant editor of Gardens Monthly, a horticultural lecturer and author of an excellent book on propagation, Propagation Techniques.
• Robert Hill-Snook – head gardener at the Brighton Pavilion, and responsible for the restoration of the Regency gardens following organic and nature-assisted principles.
• Jim Miller – horticulturalist and lecturer at Brighton’s City College.

This event promises to be a great introduction to the Garden Gadabout – when, over two weekends in June/July, over 70 private gardens from Shoreham to Lewes and everywhere in between throw open their garden gates in aid of the Sussex Beacon charity. www.sussexbeacon.org.uk/gadabout

Box Office: 01273 736222 / 
Box Office Opening Times: Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm 
www.theoldmarket.co.uk

13 May 7.30pm – 9.30pm / 
£6.00 (£4.50 Concessions)

Location: The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove BN3 1AS