Jane Owen

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Friday, 15 December, 2023

Gardens
Battle of the blanket weed
This algae grows prolifically, clogging up ponds and lakes around the world. Sadly, there is no blanket solution
Friday, 8 December, 2023

Gardens
How a Mexican garden became a Surrealist concrete jungle
When a freak snowstorm destroyed thousands of orchids planted by the English poet Edward James, he made sure it would never happen again
Thursday, 7 December, 2023

HTSIHow To Give It 2023
Planting a revolution in the community garden
Serge Hill is a seed library, an educational hub — and a place to cultivate happiness
Friday, 1 December, 2023

Gardens
A magnolia for every garden
Small or large, discreet or flamboyant, the mere thought of this spring-flowering marvel will help ease winter gloom
Friday, 29 September, 2023

Gardens
How to control garden pests without using chemicals
You can squash them, hunt them — or let predatory insects such as dragonflies and ladybirds do the dirty work for you
Friday, 25 August, 2023

Gardens
Does having a sustainable garden mean joining the hug-a-slug brigade?
Naturalistic and chemical free is the prevailing fashion but it requires adopting philosophical and aesthetic change
Friday, 14 July, 2023

House & Home
My shaggy garden story
Five years after taking on more than an acre of ‘impenetrable’ grounds, Jane Owen shares the natural-looking results of her careful work
Friday, 19 May, 2023

Chelsea Flower Show
Will nettles win medals at the Chelsea Flower Show?
With its low-carbon aesthetic and sustainability focus, this year’s event puts ‘the Plants Formerly Known as Weeds’ centre stage
Friday, 5 May, 2023

Gardens
The soundtrack of your garden
Man-made wind chimes and aeolian harps are fine but the natural music of rustling plants and rushing streams is most soothing
Friday, 14 April, 2023

Gardens
Top shear: the FT test drives three (very loud) battery-powered lawnmowers
‘Birds reached for their ear protectors, foxes begged for mercy’ — decibels aside, how efficient are the new generation of ride-on mowers?
Friday, 2 December, 2022

Gardens
Compost ‘grows such sweet things out of such corruptions’
As Walt Whitman recognised, a well-tended compost heap is a magical, sustainable thing
Friday, 18 November, 2022

ReviewBooks
American Wildflowers by Susan Barba — in full bloom
A selection of essays, poems and letters illuminates the world of plants and flowers in delightful new ways
Friday, 14 October, 2022

Gardens
How to inherit a garden: the complexities of horticultural legacy
Which gardens should outlive their creators, how should they be managed — and where will the money come from?
Friday, 16 September, 2022

Gardens
All the King’s gardens
The new monarch has long been passionate about sustainable gardening. As King Charles III, will he find time to stay ahead of the ‘green curve’?
Friday, 17 September, 2021

Chelsea Flower Show
The real Chelsea Flower Show is about so much more than flowers
For some attending next week’s event, it’s the fundraising, brand-building, schmoozing and champagne swilling that count
Friday, 27 August, 2021

House & Home
How green is your bouquet? The new eco-friendly mindset in floral design
The billion-dollar cut flower trade depends on imports and leaves a heavy carbon/chemical footprint, but things are slowly changing
Friday, 18 June, 2021

My garden diary: the battle to tame an overgrown plot
Call of the wild: the path to a nature-friendly garden
The fight to halt climate change can start in our back yards by letting go of the emerald green lawn
Saturday, 13 March, 2021

House & Home
No mere truffle: could this delicacy be growing in your back garden?
Usually unearthed by a rarefied elite of hunters, it can appear in some unexpected locations
Saturday, 9 January, 2021

Pet therapy – why animals have become our mental-health heroes
Strictly for the birds: how we can help them thrive in our gardens
Advice on feeding and protecting dwindling species — and how to deal with that pesky squirrel problem
Friday, 20 November, 2020

House & Home
Escape to the heritage heap: could you restore a derelict home?
The intrepid renovator needs dedication and serious dosh — and should expect equal measures of pain and pleasure
Friday, 30 October, 2020

My garden diary: the battle to tame an overgrown plot
Garden diary: beauty amid disorder
Jane Owen grapples with a munching Muntjac deer, slugs on steroids and colossal courgettes
Wednesday, 8 July, 2020

Consumer trends
Old Money: Digging for victory
The economics of growing your own don’t stack up, but that’s not the point
Friday, 17 April, 2020

Personal Finance
Charity under lockdown begins at home
We need to cultivate a philanthropic urge to splurge
Friday, 28 February, 2020

Gardens
Mucking in with yuccas at Renishaw Hall gardens
The unusual horticulture reflects the eccentric legacy of the literary Sitwell family
Wednesday, 12 February, 2020

Retirement
Betting the farm on a self-sufficient retirement
Living ‘The Good Life’ could be harder work than the office ever was