Jane Owen | Financial Times

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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

Gardens
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
Thursday, 16 January, 2020

Retirement
Hand me my pensions crystal ball
The newly self employed have a lot to learn about saving for retirement
Friday, 10 January, 2020

Gardens
How light pollution affects the lives of garden creatures
Artificial light severely disrupts feeding, breeding and communication among birds and other wildlife
Thursday, 19 December, 2019

Advice & Comment
How much should you tip at Christmas?
Builders, cleaners, refuse collectors, postal workers . . . there’s no end to those hopeful of a festive bonus
Friday, 29 November, 2019

ReviewNon-Fiction
An Economic History of the English Garden — shaking the money tree
Roderick Floud praises the overlooked contribution of gardening to Britain’s economy
Thursday, 7 November, 2019

Advice & Comment
How manners make money in the modern age
We ignore the reputation economy at our cost
Wednesday, 9 October, 2019

Advice & Comment
Old Money: In praise of boredom
The mind is no longer allowed to saunter off. Everyone is expected to appear engaged
Friday, 27 September, 2019

My garden diary: the battle to tame an overgrown plot
Garden diary: Time to terminate pests
Our writer tackles the biggest horticultural jobs for autumn