round up! August whizzes by

weeding out the best reads from another busy month on the internet

As August draws to a close, I've been busy designing and planting gardens. It really is a month of deepening blue skies and rich golden light.

Here's my pick of the best garden writing.

• sewing an arboretum from seed - a lovely article from Tom Stuart-Smith in The Guardian about Howick Hall in Northumberland, a vast stately garden planted with over 11,000 trees and shrubs grown from seed collected largely from Lord Howick's plant collecting trips in Asia. An inspiring achievement.

• preserving your produce - if you've been growing your own this year you'll enjoy this recipe article from The Telegraph. Onion, port and thyme marmalade anyone?

• creating an impression - art at the National Gallery - Anna Pavord writes about the Impressionist Gardens exhibition at the National Gallery in Edinburgh which shows paintings by Monet, Pissaro, Renoir and Cezanne.

• and sneaking through from July - this article in The Independent on Brockhampton Cottage, Brockhampton. Exactly the kind of garden Ilike to design and plant.

Happy gardening!