In an out-of-the-way fishing village on a fjord, the collector Ljósbjörg Petra María Sveinsdóttir put her rock and mineral collection on display and rejoiced in sharing it with others. Fifty years on, her home museum and garden still cast a spell

First published in 1796, Ideas Magazine featured all manner of ways in which ‘educated nations’ could indulge their burgeoning passion for peculiar garden follies and ornaments. From haute-couture hen houses to wacky Ferris wheels, the more fanciful the better

Nature’s colours give meaning to the work of Yto Barrada, and many of the textile artist’s experiments blossomed into life at the Mothership, her dyeing complex in Tangier close to where she grew up

On a mountainside in Piedmont, Paolo Pejrone has created his own slice of paradise, one that eschews all pesticides. Here, surrounded by animals, the esteemed gardener lives in splendid isolation