Travel

7 great ideas from Holland's Floriade

Once a decade the horticultural industry of Holland celebrates with a grand expo called Floriade. Each massive event is held in a different place and in 2012 it was carved out of a forest near Venlo, close to the Dutch border with Germany. Ideas? Well it had a few!

A Taste of Japan

The cherry blossom is divine, but don't miss these other quintessential Japanese experiences, advises Robin Powell.

Amazon Lily, Victoria amazonica

A virtual tour to the places where the Amazon lily blooms reveals some incredible stories. 

Amsterdam

Amsterdam’s botanical garden was a 17th century source of healing herbs and fascinating new food flavours. Robin Powell takes the long way there.

Arylies

Over a lifetime Bev McConnell has created one of the world’s great gardens – and it’s just outside Auckland.

Australia's Best Rose Gardens

Need to know where to find the best rose gardens in Australia? We've done the hard yards for you, and here they are.

Barcelona

Rooms without corners, ceilings slung with rose garlands, legends played out on windowsills – more than a century later Barcelona’s modernist architects are still a thrill, says Robin Powell.

Boab Tree

A mature boab tree is a majestic sight. Though it doesn't grow exceptionally tall, just up to 15 metres, the trees appear huge because of their swollen trunks. These can reach 20 metres in diameter.

Bronte House

Bronte House does not open to the public often. So when the opportunity arises gardeners line up to catch a glimpse of this Sydney treasure. Catch Sandra Ross there at the Spring Open Day, September 18 2016. Carla Petit has been looking after the garden for four years, continuing a tradition of highly skilled gardeners who have cared for this histric house and garden. Here she tell us what's happening.

Brussels

Every two years Brussels lays out a dazzling tapestry of flowers in the Grand Place. Seeing it is just one of our list of top things to do in Brussels.

Buenos Aires

Graham and Sandra were thrilled by the vibrancy and colour of Buenos Aires, where they have been researching a new tour itinerary. Graham shares some of their discoveries.

Chelsea 2015

After her first trip to the Chelsea Flower Show Robin Powell gave us her impressions. It was a show that reminded us of the beauty of nature barely gardened, and of gardens tended intensively.

Chelsea: Graham Ross' Survival Tips

Tips to survive a day at Chelsea.

Cloudehill

Jeremy Francis tells the story of his magnificent garden in ‘Cloudehill: A year in the garden’. In this extract he describes how a garden inspired by the golden days of Edwardian Arts and Crafts Design began to take shape in the rich moist soils of the Dandenong Ranges.

Garden festival planner: Chaumont-sur-Loire Garden Festival

The Loire Valley is renowned as ‘France’s Garden’, and in summer it hosts an international design festival that imagines the future of gardening.

Garden Festival Planner: Floriade

In spring the national capital is all about Floriade. Here’s how to add more gardens to its tulip beds and party atmosphere.

Garden Festival Planner: Hampton Court Flower Show

If the Chelsea Flower Show is the sophisticated sister, her younger sibling is bigger, more daring - and definitely friendlier.

Garden Festival Planner: Nambour

Garden lovers flock to Nambour in winter for their fill of new plants, gadgets and ideas. Here’s how to turn a day at the show into a real garden festival.

Garden Ideas from Appletern Garden Festival, Holland

Visiting Appletern is like having your favourite garden magazine come to life. Around every corner of this vast garden showcase in Holland is a new page offering great ideas for your own garden: design, plants, planting combinations, paving options, sculpture, furniture and more.

Garden Road Trip South Coast

With verdant green dairy country on one side and pristine beaches on the other, the south coast of NSW is gorgeous country. Plan now to visit in spring, when open gardens add to the sights.

Garden Road Trip: Adelaide

Adelaide’s roses are a treat in both spring and in autumn, and there is plenty more to discover in a city that loves its gardens.

Goldfields

Ideas from Singapore

We grabbed some tropical inspiration in Singapore a few months ago when we took two groups of Ross Garden Tours travelers to the biennial Singapore Garden Festival.

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu is more than just a waterfall, says an exhilarated Robin Powell

In our garden: Wildwood

A cool-climate garden of five acres gives Sue and Wayne Tapping room to grow the beauties they love. Here they share what’s keeping them busy this spring

Into Africa

Robin Powell thrills to the sights of the Masai Mara

Is Villa Gamberaia the most romantic garden in Italy?

We join a long line of world-weary travellers who have fallen for the charms of Villa Gamberaia hook, line and sinker.

Italian Lakes

Glamour and romance are the twin themes of a stay in Stressa. Robin Powell took a room with a view and was enchanted.

Jaipur - The Pink City

Bustle, colour, beauty and great stories: Peter Whitehead reveals some of the allure of Jaipur, and tells why he can’t wait to take Ross Garden tours first trip to India.

Japan in Autumn

Cherry blossom season might make all the headlines but Graham says that in autumn Japan glows with a gentle beauty.

Japanese Garden Design Ideas

Japanese garden design offers some great ideas to gardeners. With a bit of imagination we can incorporate aspects and approaches that enhance our gardens without turning them Japanese

Japanese Gardens

We love Japanese gardens so much we visit twice a year: in spring to catch the fleeting magic of the cherry blossom season; and again in autumn when the maples and chrysanthemums are at their best. 

Longwood

Money isn't an essential ingredient of a great garden, but my, can’t it help! Michael McCoy reports on how the dollars show at the lavishly loved Longwood Gardens.

Macquarie Island

Hobart’s Botanic Gardens is home to an unusual glasshouse with a collection of plants from Australia’s sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. Robin Powell wrapped up warm to collect stories from one of the wildest places on earth.

Mágico Mexico

Three of Mexico’s native plants are behind three of Linda’s favourite things - chocolate, vanilla and tequila - so she was always going to love the place, but how much surprised even her.

Marqueyssac

When it comes to box, this iconic French garden thinks outside the square! No flowers, few trees, few paths, but amazing views – and more than 150,000 sculpted box.

Matsue

Flying into Matsue, on the shores of Lake Shinjii, the ground glows green with rice and buckwheat. The area is famous for its soba noodles, ancient samurai houses, moated castle - and a succession of cherry blossom, peonies, azaleas and wisteria through spring.

Mauritius

Robin Powell indulges in tropical glamour on the island paradise of Mauritius and develops a bad case of garden envy.

Meet Tom Coward: Head gardener at Gravetye Manor

Gravetye Manor is the garden of the influential English gardener, William Robinson. Robin Powell spoke to its current head gardener Tom Coward about its historical accuracy and modern excitement.

Meet: Tamara Cannon, charity worker

Greenhouses are producing life-saving vegetables in the high-altitude desert villages of Ladakh, thanks to the Australian charity Lille Fro. Robin Powell spoke to its founder Tamara Cannon.

Monet’s Masterpiece, Giverny

Claude Monet always said his garden was his greatest work. Giverny is both garden and art.

Oakwood

Wonderfully eccentric, personal, witty and beautiful. The garden of sculptors, Fulko Cooper and Maureen Craig is both drawing board and artwork; a house, garden, studio and gallery space that inspires. Welcome to Oakwood.

Old Wesleydale

Deb and Scott Wilson make garden magic in Tasmania's stunning Meander Valley.

Outback Bloom

The Australian outback is experiencing a one-in-a-lifetime explosion of exuberant growth and flowering. Birds are flocking to the newly drenched watercourses and brimming lakes, and so are plant lovers. Angus Stewart shares the thrill.

Paris

Perch Hill Farm

Linda is passionate about growing all her own vegetables at home. So she sought inspiration from England’s great gardener, writer, teacher, and vegetable grower, Sarah Raven.

Postcards from recent Ross Tours

For the garden traveller 2016 was a huge year. New destinations and lots of old favourites. Here are some of the highlights.

Postcards from the 2017 Tour season

Views, reports and travel tips from the world of Ross Tours. What a great year we had in 2017, traveling the gardens of the world. Here are some of our most memorable tours.

Roberto Burle Marx

Sandra visits the house and garden of the highly influential tropical garden designer Roberto Burle Marx and is inspired by his artistry.

Scandinavia

Sandra has been in travelling though Denmark, Norway and Sweden, preparing the itinerary for next year’s Ross Garden tour. Here she shares a sampler of tastes of high summer in the far north.