A wet patch in your garden can play host to all kinds of gorgeous damp-loving plants. I once visited a garden where a single clump of the giant bog plant Gunnera manicata was growing. It looked like rhubarb on acid, dwarfing its cottage garden neighbours. Gunnera reaches 2.5m tall and wide in a season, dying back to the ground in winter. Housing such a monster may seem unrealistic for the average back garden, but this plant was happily accommodated in a 1m-wide bog.

Lorna and Harry Roberts, 88 and 90 respectively, will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary in July this year. They have 10 great-grandchildren and live in East Finchley, London

HARRY I joined the South African army in 1940, and served in the Second World War. I spent two years as a prisoner of war in Italy, and when Italy capitulated, we were handed over to the Germans. I managed to escape, living in secret with an Italian family for seven months before I was picked up by the Germans and spent the last year of the war in a prison camp in Germany. When the war ended, we were sent to England.

Can't wait for the kids to leave home so you can enjoy a spot of peace and quiet? Or are you more like Stephanie Calman who dreads the day her two move out?

Like most of our friends, we have children who will struggle to be able to move out when they start work or college. What young person nowadays can afford to buy a flat or even rent? And how will they get jobs when businesses are closing every day? Just when we'll feel like easing up on the career pedal and spending more time reading and pottering, we face the alarming prospect of subsidising Lawrence and Lydia, now 12 and 11, well into their 20s.

Ten experts pick their favourite gardens in the UK and Ireland ahead of London's Open Garden Squares Weekend next month