Happy National Gardening Week! There's a packed seven days ahead as the country's biggest celebration of all things to do with gardening gets under way.
We'll be enjoying lots of special events here at our garden centre in Pontypool, joining dozens of gardens around the country marking the occasion. Go on a guided walk in the company of the head gardener at the Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens in Buckinghamshire, Nymans in Sussex and Dyrham Park near Bath, among others; plant a sunflower at Furzey Gardens in the New Forest; watch the gardening team at work staking the borders at Arlington Court in Devon; or see the hidden garden at Bodnant, in north Wales – never usually open to the public.
There's even a rainy day activity: 'A Little Chaos', a film starring actors Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman, is on release to coincide with National Gardening Week and brings to life the story of a landscape gardener who wins the assignment to build the great gardens of Versailles for King Louis XIV.
And the highlight of the week is National Open Gardens Day, on 17 April, when dozens of gardens including all four RHS gardens open their doors for free. Visit www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk for more details.
