Tim Richardson
Garden critic and landscape historian, Tim Richardson is also founder-director of the Chelsea Fringe Festival.
Recent articles by Tim Richardson
This sunken city garden has been transformed into an exotic leafy paradise
Exotic evergreen texture and form bring multiple perspectives to a shady, low-level urban garden designed by Declan Buckley
A space station garden and hovering wheelbarrows: is this what gardens will look like in 50 years?
This compendium of ten futuristic garden plans is absorbing, says Tim Richardson, but feels more like solutions to today’s problems than a vision of the future
Chelsea Flower Show's star designers: the 21 top designers from the world's greatest flower show
The Chelsea Flower Show has long acted as a proving ground and showcase for star garden designers and for new trends in planting and design. Tim Richardson picks out design highlights from the show’s illustrious history
What is a 'lost' garden? Discover remarkable stories of lost gardens of London and the world in two new books
Two new books approach the topic of ‘lost’ gardens’ in different ways – both of them beautifully illustrated and both scoring a success, says Tim Richardson
Why taking the helm of the Eden Project was an offer Andy Jasper couldn't resist
The new CEO of the Eden Project on his excitement about a new chapter, the legacy he’s left at the National Trust and his joy at heading home to Cornwall.
Words: Tim Richardson, Portrait: Rachel Warne
Discover Richard Sudell, a lost design hero of 20th century British suburbia
Richard Sudell is a lost design hero of the 20th century, according to a new book from Michael Gilson. Reviewer Tim Richardson explains
A dreamy Italian garden with an English flavour designed by Stuart Barfoot
Vast lawns, roses and a mix of cottage-garden favourites give this stylish garden in central Italy a distinctly English flavour. Words Tim Richardson, photographs Claire Takacs
Meet Andrea Brunsendorf, head gardener at Lowther Castle in Cumbria
Lowther Castle’s head gardener on growing vegetables with her grandparents, having lunch with Christopher Lloyd and championing the craft of gardening.
Gravetye Manor's Tom Coward on fruit, flowers and more
Head gardener at Gravetye Manor Tom Coward on his passion for fruit, the importance of classmates and having the best education in flower gardening you could ever imagine. Portrait Charlie Hopkinson
A dry garden on the French Riviera
Guided by his expert knowledge of plants suited to a dry climate, designer James Basson has created a rich and textural garden on the French Riviera. Photographs Claire Takacs
Gemma Jerome on why we shouldn't all be wishing for a garden of our own
The director of Building with Nature on the need to put nature at the heart of development, and why we may have to rethink our desire for our own private gardens. Portrait by Britt Willoughby Dyer
A Provençal garden with a naturalistic twist from James and Helen Basson
Outward looking James and Helen Basson have given a classic Provençal garden a naturalistic twist to blend with the stunning surrounding landscape. Words Tim Richardson, photographs Claire Takacs
Åsa Gregers-Warg on her respect for Beth Chatto and gardening in her spirit
The creative force behind the Beth Chatto Gardens on the practicalities of gardening, her respect and affection for Beth and the responsibility of gardening in her spirit
Chatsworth | A Victorian rock garden reimagined
As part of a redesign of the gardens at Chatsworth, Tom Stuart-Smith has created a bold new plan for Joseph Paxton’s 19th-century Rock Garden. Words Tim Richardson, Photographs Richard Bloom
Explore a Californian oasis garden
A watery oasis garden intentionally out of kilter with the surrounding Californian climate and landscape bears all the hallmarks of its individualistic designer, Ron Lutsko. Words Tim Richardson, photographs Richard Bloom.
Horticultural heroes | Discover our list of unsung champions
Not every influential gardener wins gold at Chelsea, many more are transforming urban spaces and lives through community garden projects, proving all it takes is a packet of seeds, plenty of imagination and a determination to succeed – no matter what
A modernist house with a meadow in San Francisco Bay
A modernist house in northern California’s San Francisco Bay Area offered landscape architects Surfacedesign the opportunity to create a series of terraces or courts that lead down from a olive orchard at the entrance, via a series of ascending levels of planting, defined by basalt and Corten steel walls, to a stunning Californian meadow. Photographs by Richard Bloom
The Newt hotel in Somerset: a new chapter in the life of Hadspen House
Originally designed by Penelope Hobhouse, the gardens at Hadspen House also once housed the Walled Garden of Canadian colourists Nori and Sandra Pope, and have now been given a new lease of life as the background to a boutique hotel. Photographs Jason Ingram
An American garden in Bath
For its first UK commission, the US design firm Oehme, van Sweden has created a New American-style garden in a very British setting Words Tim Richardson, photographs Claire Takacs
Le Jardin Secret: an Islamic garden in the heart of Marrakech
In a space once hidden from the public, Le Jardin Secret, in Marrakech, has been transformed by Tom Stuart-Smith into two distinctive tranquil gardens. Photos by Claire Takacs
Ron Lutsko's Californian non-garden
A carefully understated garden designed by Ron Lutsko in California’s Portola Valley takes its cues from the gently rolling landscape and non-native grasses of the region’s 19th-century pasture-land heritage. Words Tim Richardson, photographs Richard Bloom