Why blog about this? Who would be interested… It’s giving me a single point on which to rest and take stock during a time when there have been no points to stop, or to step back and consider. Before I attempt to switch off the last three months in Ham House Garden are worthy of a quick reflection.
Continue reading...Nature and nurture in Ham House garden
Ham House’s head gardener Rosie Fyles is gardening for nature and people in a 17th-century walled garden in London’s heart. Take a glimpse behind the scenes in this regular blog.


We use the latest wildlife gardening techniques to help nature thrive, and to conserve the beauty and heritage of the garden for everyone to enjoy. Follow the Nature and Nurture gardening blog for the latest news and ideas from Rosie and her passionate team. Then share your own tips and questions too using #HamGarden4Nature.
Latest posts
2 Jul 2020
8 Jun 2020
Welcome back
Published: 8 June 2020
In March I wrote about the garden closing just as the spring bulbs were blooming. Today, the garden re-opened in early summer: we are harvesting gooseberries and cutting roses. More than any other time, the last three months have shown that gardens are for people, not just gardeners.
Continue reading...22 Apr 2020
Next year's spring will be the best ever
Published: 22 April 2020
This spring the locked-down members of the population are all likely to be becoming a bit more like gardeners. Not just because of the time we might have to be at home in whatever our garden is for us, from house plant to small yard to multiple acres. This year everybody is more like a gardener because we are all having ideas and making plans about how to make next spring better while this ...
Continue reading...27 Mar 2020
Nothing stops spring
Published: 27 March 2020
In our garden there are at least 200,000 bulbs flowering – I just can’t see them. We closed the property down on Tuesday this week to most staff, having closed it to visitors on Saturday when almost 1000 people turned up to enjoy the colours, scents and space. In less than 16 gated acres these numbers represent too many challenges: the outdoors suddenly took on indoor characteristics, where ...
Continue reading...3 Dec 2019
Is this a quiet time in Ham House garden?
Published: 3 December 2019
Rosie Fyles, Head Gardener at Ham House in London, is often asked if early winter is a quiet period in the garden. Assumptions are made that the bulbs are all already in, herbaceous growth is dying back (or cut down), the mower blades are on their sharpening leave and it’s too wet and cold for hedge-cutting, surely?
Continue reading...22 Oct 2019
How we're planting for climate change at Ham House
Published: 22 October 2019
As a custodian of Ham House's historic garden, with 400 years of cultivation before me, I'm noticing changes in the way the plants here are behaving. Luckily, I'm also discovering there's plenty we can do to adapt.
Continue reading...21 Oct 2019
Can history inspire today's nature gardening?
Published: 21 October 2019
A historic, formal garden - straight lines, topiary shapes, clipped hedges, repeated planting sequences - is not a place you would immediately associate with 'gardening for nature'. At Ham House and Garden near Richmond in Surrey, we're seeking to change this.
Continue reading...