Garden Illustrated Magazine is one of the best places to discover the world’s most inspiring gardens, irresistible plants and advice from leading designers and garden makers. We spoke to editor Juliet Roberts who reveals a few of her favourite East London horticultural hang-outs and shares her own green-fingered wizardry.

What sparked your passion for gardening?
Having my own garden for the first time, when I bought a flat in Stoke Newington in London. Encouraged by my closest friends – both keen gardeners – I began visiting Columbia Road Flower Market, buying books and magazines, took on an allotment and quickly got obsessed. Having always been interested in art and nature – it was my perfect hobby.

What does your garden look like?
It’s often assumed that I have a garden as beautiful as those that we feature in Gardens Illustrated. I hate to admit it, but nothing could be further from the truth! That said, each year I’m becoming happier with my slowly evolving garden in Bristol. At 130ft long x 30ft wide it’s relatively big for a town garden, and I’ve divided it into a miniature woodland, an allotment-style vegetable plot and a courtyard close to the house, which I’m currently planting with seasonal favourites that I can enjoy when bad weather keeps me indoors.

Which garden or outside space has had the greatest impact on you and why?
That’s a tricky question; I’ve seen a lot of gardens and landscapes during the 15 years I’ve worked on the magazine. I can just about narrow it down to two: Great Dixter in East Sussex for its beautiful, experimental planting and the unstoppable energy and fun that pervades the place; and Rousham in Oxfordshire, where William Kent’s genius use of light and shadow has given the garden an enchanting, almost dream-like atmosphere. They are the two gardens I visit the most.

Which tool couldn’t you be without?
The Azada – or ridging hoe – made by Chillington. It’s perfect for breaking ground, hoeing weeds and making rills for planting rows of vegetables.

Favourite app and why?
Instagram – I’m highly visual and really enjoy seeing what people all over the world, particularly friends, are up to.

Favourite plant and why?
I love umbellifers, and my new favourite is Taenidia integerrima, which has airy, acid-yellow flowers on wiry stems and, remarkably, copes well in dry shade.

What outdoor trends should we be looking out for this year/summer?
Clever planting inspired by nature, which looks great and benefits wildlife. Also, I see people investing in a few, well-made things that help make spending time outdoors comfortable and fun, such as good seating, lighting and fire pits.

Buy your tickets to GROW London 2016 now and pop along to see Garden Illustrated at their stand in June!

Ahead of returning to the fair this summer, we had a chat with GROW London exhibitor Bernard Mavunga from Mara Sculpture about wild gardens, his sculpture-filled London home and how he first began selling his contemporary Zimbabwean sculpture right here in the UK…

Where did your passion for sculpture come from?
When I was young I used to watch my great Uncle Biggie Kapeta sculpting. He was one of Zimbabwe’s first generation of sculptors and was extremely talented. I was fascinated by his focus and how the stone seemed to absorb him completely while he worked.

How did Mara Sculpture start?
My Uncle Biggie Kapeta always told me I should be involved in sculpture. But as I had no talent to sculpt myself, I went off and pursued a career in film and television instead. Several years ago, I was in Zimbabwe on holiday and a couple of artists asked me to bring some sculpture to the UK to sell for them. The economic conditions in Zimbabwe were tough at the time, so I decided to help out. I held a small exhibition in a South London gallery and did a couple of one day fairs. It was clear by how quickly we sold all the work that there was a big demand for this high-quality, accessible sculpture. It’s now five years later and I’m still selling Zimbabwean sculpture full-time, representing some of the country’s top sculptors. My Uncle Biggie Kapeta has now passed, but no doubt, he is looking down on me, laughing – he always knew best!

How do you find your artists? Are they all from Zimbabwe?
I only work with Zimbabwean stone sculptors. There are three main sculpture collectives in the country and I work with all of them, as well as several individual artists who have their own workshops. I go to Zimbabwe twice a year to source new work, and I will always travel to the remote sculpture community in the North of the country called “Tengenenge” as there are some extraordinary artists based there. They also have access to a particularly fine grade of Serpentine which has beautiful greenish tints to it.

Zimbabwean stone sculpture is a contemporary art movement that is particular to Zimbabwe. So whereas there is a lot of wood sculpture and soap-stone sculpture across the rest of Africa, Zimbabwe is home to what is recognised as a “contemporary” art movement that began in the 1950s. Its roots however, lie in ancient tradition of stone sculpture that dates back to the 16^th century.

What does your sculpture collection look like? Does it fill your garden?
Yes our little London garden is filled with sculpture, as is our flat. We have three treasured pieces, a mouse by my great Uncle Biggie Kapeta, a rhinoceros by my other uncle Sylvester Mubayi and a bust by Lazarus Takawira all famous Zimbabwean sculptors. They are beautiful pieces and it feels like I have my family with me. My wife also likes to “borrow” pieces she likes from the collection.

Do you have a favourite sculptor, and if so, why?
I always have a favourite sculptor and it changes every year! This year I am loving Dickson Dickson’s work. He has created some very beautiful, stylised elephants in gorgeous Tengenenge Serpentine. They are simple and very powerful, capturing the bulk, the beauty and the intelligence of these magnificent animals.

Describe your own gardening style?
I like wild gardens. I love a slightly out of control look where nature appears to have the upper hand. I especially love wild grasses at the moment and often use them in our sculpture displays as they soften the hard lines of the sculpture.

Which garden or outside space has had the greatest impact on you and why?
My favourite landscapes are Zimbabwe’s vast granite kopjes, that hold little pockets of msasa trees, wild flowers and grasses. My favourite garden is Harare’s botanical gardens which despite the difficult economic situation in Zimbabwe, is still maintained. There are a couple of trees there I have loved since childhood. Sadly, their beautiful fever tree forest developed a root infection and all the trees died.

What attracted you to GROW?
We really liked the idea of a contemporary urban garden show – targeting smaller urban spaces. This is how we live and most of our friends live, and we loved the idea of a show Hampstead Heath.

What other things would you like to buy at GROW?
We discovered Hardy’s through Grow (they had a show garden in front of our stand) and now we buy all our exhibition flowers from them!

Who or what makes you laugh?
My wife and friends.

For the chance to see more os Mara Sculpture‘s stunning works on display buy your tickets to GROW London 2016 now!

For GROW exhibitor Philippa Lloyd, antiques are more than just a business. And here she’s shared a wealth of memories with us, from a childhood spent at auction houses to years spent taking treasure-hunting trips across the globe.

How did you get into antiques?
My mum had an antiques shop in Dorset and spent her whole life going to auctions, so as a kid I grew up in a van hanging around at the auction houses, picking up knowledge here and there, discovering how the business worked and how to spot the good stuff. I guess it’s always been in my blood.

Then, as a teenager, I moved up to London and during my studies fell head over heels for the huge 60s and 70s fashion scene there, so I was really into trends and design from an early age.

Have you always worked in antiques?
For the most part yes, when I was younger I dabbled in the music business working for various record companies and promoters. For me, the whole antiques thing really kicked off when my children grew up and I moved to the country.

I started off just buying. At the time I was very friendly with Cath Kidston so I did a lot with her and started to supply bits and pieces for shops. From there, word spread and it wasn’t long until I began to be asked to help find things for various people and shoots, styling props for magazines and catalogues, which is when I realised it could be quite profitable. When I started out I would buy a piece and use it over and over - I found this lovely old green wheelbarrow and it’s since been in almost every magazine I can think of!

When did you start exhibiting at fairs?
I was there right at the beginning when all the charity fairs started that were all the rage 20 years ago. I use to do at least 25 in the run up to Christmas, which was exhausting - constantly setting up, selling, packing and on to the next.

I did the Barnes fair for years and years – I’d sell to all the dealers on Portobello and they’d come at 6 o’clock in the morning and search for the best pieces, the paintings in particular, then off they’d go. It was great!

How do you go about sourcing your products?
Back in the day it was all about going to the auctions: Campton, Ardingly, Swinderby, Newark. I spent a lot of time in France where they’d have wonderful ‘puce’ fairs (French for flea) and ‘brocantes’ which were the next step up and had various antiquités. However in France, for me, it’s all about the lower end fairs – they’re the best place to find the quality stuff.

Another great source has been generous friends and family. Over the years I’ve often received calls when friends are either moving, or going though their parents’ loft or grandmother’s house, and they’d ask whether I’d like anything. I’d be straight over to take a look and buy directly from them, which is always great!

How often do you go on trips to buy things?
When I was doing it in a big way before leaving the country - when I had the space - I was doing at least 50,000 miles a year in my car. I was always off somewhere at 5am in the morning with a torch in hand, woolly hat and terrible old jacket on, as most dealers are. At least once a month I’d hop on the Euro Tunnel and off I’d go! That’s the fun bit, you get to see so much of a country because you’d wind up in obscure little villages in the mountains, and there’s not much of England I haven’t been to either.

Traveling around you’d meet so many friends too. If you sell at Campton there is a tight knit group of dealers, so they’ll be buying to sell there and will have customers who come again and again. It’s a great way to get to know your customers and find out who’s next door. It’s all about the early mornings, getting filthy dirty, longing for a bath and being knackered, but when you find this wonderful thing it’s all worth it!

What keeps the passion burning?
I think because my mum was a shop keeper by trade, it’s in me, I understand it. I like to deal with people; I would hate to be shut away in an office somewhere, that’s my idea of hell. I love to be out and about, moving and interacting with people, and you come across such amazing things in antiques.

Plus, I just love markets, from food to furniture, if there’s a market I’m there! I was in Italy the other week and I was so lucky that there was a market the next day, it was just heaven.

Do you have a favourite product to source?
I love paintings and I’m always drawn to textiles, lamps, ornamental pieces - I like quirky things. I’m not such a fan of furniture because I’ve never been able to lift the stuff!

What’s interesting now is the change of trends – we’re shifting to a more industrial look, I think the whole shabby chic thing is over. Mixing old and new is what I really love to do at the moment. In my little house in Hammersmith my big country furniture doesn’t look right, so my tastes have changed and I’ve been buying much lighter furniture, smaller chairs, side tables - it’s a different look, more minimal and less crowded.

So what’s next?
Well GROW! It’s something I really enjoyed last year and I’m looking forward to seeing some of the people I met last year again. It was great for me to meet a whole host of new clients that I otherwise wouldn’t have the contact with; it was a completely new audience for me, which is exciting!

Book tickets now to join us at GROW London this June and see Philippa Lloyd’s latest treasures.

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