Natalie Knowles
Natalie Knowles is a Home & Gardens product writer for Modern Gardens, Yours, Take A Break Pets, and A Modern Kitchen.
Modern Gardens is always tantalisingly bursting with creative outdoor projects where Natalie’s authorial expertise flourishes. In addition to a weekend mooch around a garden centre (with a Full English breakfast as a treat), Natalie gets her horticultural inspiration from her family of expert gardeners.
Before moving into journalism and lifestyle publications, Natalie worked in London for seven years at educational publishing houses. During that time, she had some stand-out garden moments including a visit to the Sky Garden – a must-see for lovers of vertical urban planting. Also, the parks of central London were sublime escapism from the grind. As an appreciator of contemporary art, Natalie makes an annual trip to the Serpentine Gallery and its summer pavilion in Kensington Gardens.
For lovers of creative garden design, she recommends visiting the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival. Aside from the exhibitors, the formal Palace gardens and Georgian kitchen garden are unmissable. Also, sipping Champagne on an outdoor sofa is the perfect way to take five at this hot July event.
From the utterly spectacular rhododendrons and azaleas of the Punch Bowl Valley Gardens in Windsor Great Park and Richmond Park’s Isabella Plantation – to the no less stunning rhododendrons of Sheringham Park – Natalie swapped the Heathrow flight path for the North Norfolk coast. She enjoys the seasonality of Norfolk and it's much easier to get home-grown, organic fruit and vegetables. Although, even in London, Natalie always found places to forage blackberries.
Planting the tulip bulbs in late October, ready for a Spring show is a family tradition. If you can, Natalie recommends visiting Amsterdam and learning more about the tulip trade. Whilst the bulbs are just a few Euros now, they were more valuable than gold. Natalie advocates biophilia for wellbeing and it's simply priceless, seeing those full blooms of vibrant colour, after the snowdrops, crocuses, and daffodils – knowing that spring has fully arrived. Being limited on outdoor space is not an obstacle, as Natalie has repurposed an old tin bath and enamel sink as planters.
Travels over the years planted ideas too, the seeds of which became an ornamental ‘scree slope’ rockery inspired by the Highlands and a Lotus pond with koi carp that transports Natalie back to her time in Chongqing, China every time she sits and drinks her green tea beside it.
Natalie's favourite time of year is early autumn when she can pick figs, cob nuts and maybe even a few raspberries fresh from the garden and enjoy them with yoghurt and granola for breakfast. Her dad has a vegetable garden and there’s always a glut of tomatoes and onions. Rest assured, loved ones know they’re getting a jar of pickled onions for Christmas every year. For lovers of self-sufficiency, Natalie can advise on how to best store excess fruit and vegetables. As a dab hand in the kitchen, dehydrating, freezing, pickling, and preserving are second nature. She’s even trodden grapes barefoot, from her friend’s grapevine to ferment wine in a demijohn.
Natalie's top gardens to visit for readers to get inspired:
• Gardens can take on a magical form in winter with lighting decoration. None more so, than the enchanting Magical Lantern Festival held to celebrate Chinese New Year at Chiswick House & Gardens.
• For lovers of surreal decoration, colourful patterns, and a vibrant aesthetic, visit Park Güell, designed by Gaudi, in Barcelona.
• The gardens of Versailles are a masterpiece in the art of perspective. So vast and perfect, they must need some robust garden power tools to maintain its majesty!
• Finally, it's the Keukenhof in Holland and see the tulip fields and artistic flower displays.
Creating a garden is like curating an art exhibition. With a bit of flair and imagination, you can add a concept to your plot – and this is why Natalie loves writing for Modern Gardens.
With a flair for creativity, Natalie's areas of gardening expertise are:
• Garden decoration
• Preserving fruit and vegetables
• Creative garden projects
• Mid-Century Modern garden furniture
• OK, she knows a fair bit about outdoor power tools too!
Natalie joined Bauer Media as a Commercial Content Writer in 2022 following four years with newspaper and magazine publisher Archant. She has a BA (Hons) in Film & American Studies and an MA in Sequential Design & Illustration.
When she’s wearing her other hat, Natalie is a budding contemporary artist and illustrator. You can find out more about her work at natalieknowlesart.com and on her Instagram art account.
Follow Natalie's lifestyle Instagram account: @accessallreviews.
