A gardening reading list, presented in three parts – See Part I and Part II
The Curious Gardener’s Almanac: Centuries of Practical Garden Wisdom by Niall Edworthy
…contains over 1000 entries of remarkable information about flowers, vegetables, fruits, trees, herbs, insects, birds, water, soil, tools, composts, climate, recipes, gardens and gardeners, myths, superstitions, biodynamics… In short it is a collection as profuse and variegated as gardening itself. Woven into this wealth of knowledge are famous quotations, anecdotes, traditional sayings, lines of verse, and words of rural wisdom. The spirit and focus of the Almanac is British but the wider picture is international as so much of our gardens originated from overseas.
The Garden in the Clouds by Antony Woodward
It was a derelict smallholding so high up in the Black Mountains of Wales it was routinely lost in cloud. But to Antony Woodward, Tair-Ffynnon was the most beautiful place in the world. Equally ill-at-ease in town and country after too long in London’s ad-land, Woodward bought Tair-Ffynnon because he yearned to reconnect with the countryside he never felt part of as a child. But what excuse could he invent to move there permanently? The solution, he decided, was a garden.
A Countrywoman’s Notes by Rosemary Verey
Twelve chapters endeavour to capture the atmosphere of successive months, encompassing the minutiae of plant and wildlife behaviour in the garden and hedgerow. The author celebrates the intimacies of a rural world in an idyllic setting, but with an eye to modern existence and an appreciation of progress.
The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession by Andrea Wulf
This is the story of these men – friends, rivals, enemies, united by a passion for plants – whose correspondence, collaborations and squabbles make for a riveting human tale which is set against the backdrop of the emerging empire, the uncharted world beyond and London as the capital of science. From the scent of the exotic blooms in Tahiti and Botany Bay to the gardens at Chelsea and Kew, and from the sounds and colours of the streets of the City to the staggering vistas of the Appalachian mountains, The Brother Gardeners tells the story how Britain became a nation of gardeners.
A Little History of British Gardening by Jenny Uglow
This lively “potted” history of gardening in Britain takes us on a garden tour from the thorn hedges around prehistoric settlements to the rage for decking and ornamental grasses today, tracking down ordinary folk, aristocrats and grand designers
Four Hedges by Clare Leighton
Clare Leighton was one of the finest engravers of the twentieth century. In the 1930s, when she settled in the countryside with her long-term partner, the political journalist Henry Noel Brailsford, she turned her creativity to the land. Gardening became her passion. Her obsession. This is the story of the garden she carved from meadowland deep in the Chiltern Hills.
Please feel free to suggest your own favourites and once I’m back I’ll do a fourth post devoted to them!
I won a copy of Four Hedges several years ago, a facsimile of the original – it’s really beautiful.
A Little History of British Gardening is a A Really Useful book to have, too, and very readable (but then, Jenny Uglow’s books are always so readable).
A Countrywoman’s Notes is similarly beautifully illustrated.
But of this selection, discounting these above, that I have, the one I would really love to have is The Brother Gardeners.
Might I add, then: George Forrest, Plant Hunter by Brenda McLain. Talk about intrepid adventurer, and so handsome with it!
And then for something a little specialised but again, very readable: Knot Gardens and Parterres by Robin Whalley and Anne Jennings.
Which brings me to a series of 6 short books by Anne Jennings which is, sadly, now out of print but I’m sure there would be copies around via amazon and Abe. They were published by English Heritage in association with the Museum of Garden History and the series includes Roman Gardens,Medieval Gardens, Tudor & Stuart Gardens, Georgian Gardens, Victorian Gardens and Edwardian Gardens. They are short histories but excellent starting points from to learn something about English garden history and from them one might discover which period really appeals, whether it’s the broad brush of the Georgian landscape garden or Edwardian town gardens and the birth of the Garden City Movement.
Toward the top of my “to be read” pile is…Sissinghurst: The Quest to Restore a Working Farm at Vita Sackville-West’s Legendary Garden by Adam Nicolson
Might I recommend Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katherine White. Katherine was married to E.B.White (of Charlotte’s Web) fame and was his editor at The New Yorker. This book is a collection of essays she wrote for the magazine about none other that garden catalogues…and of course much, much more. Delightful.
[…] Susan Ashbrook alerted us to a very interesting blog, The Captive Reader, and three postings of gardening classics which are well worth examining. Some listings and reviews will be well known to many, such as Anna Pavord’s excellent The Curious Gardener: A Year in the Garden, while others are ripe for discovery, such as Weeds: A Cultural History, and Four Hedges by Clare Leighton. Find links to all three garden book installments at https://thecaptivereader.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/a-gardening-reading-list-part-iii/. […]
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