This is the fascinating story of a small group of eighteenth-century naturalists who made Britain a nation of gardeners and the epicenter of horticultural and botanical expertise. It's the story of a garden revolution that began in America.
In 1733, the American farmer John Bartram dispatched two boxes of plants and seeds from the American colonies, addressed to the London cloth merchant Peter Collinson. Most of these plants had never before been grown in British soil, but in time the magnificent and colorful American trees, evergreens, and shrubs would transform the English landscape and garden forever. During the next forty years, Collinson and a handful of botany enthusiasts cultivated hundreds of American species. "The Brother Gardeners "follows the lives of six of these men, whose shared passion for plants gave rise to the English love affair with gardens. In addition to Collinson and Bartram, who forged an extraordinary friendship, here are Philip Miller, author of the best-selling "Gardeners Dictionary"; the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, whose standardized nomenclature helped bring botany to the middle classes; and Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, who explored the strange flora of Brazil, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia on the greatest voyage of discovery of their time, aboard Captain Cook's "Endeavour."
From the exotic blooms in Botany Bay to the royal gardens at Kew, from the streets of London to the vistas of the Appalachian Mountains, "The Brother Gardeners" paints a vivid portrait of an emerging world of knowledge and of gardening as we know it today. It is a delightful and beautifully told narrative history.

"From the Hardcover edition."

In seventeenth-century Britain, a new breed of 'curious' gardeners were pushing at the frontiers of knowledge and new plants were stealing into Europe from East and West. John Tradescant and his son were at the vanguard of this change - as gardeners, as collectors and above all as exemplars of an age that began in wonder and ended with the dawning of science. Jennifer Potter's book vividly evokes the drama of their lives and takes its readers to the edge of an expanding universe. Strange Blooms is a magnificent pleasure for gardeners and non-gardeners alike. This 'wonderful book' (Jane Stevenson, Daily Telegraph) describes the remarkable lives and times of the John Tradescants.

A handy guide to quick and effective first-aid treatments for commonly occurring accidents and complaints, derived from garden, pantry and under-sink sources. From a thorn prick to heatstroke, from chapped hands to heart attack, from pesticide poisoning to wasp stings: all of these can be treated on site with what you grow. The resource is on your doorstep: the plant beside you as your work or relax in the garden can be the answer to the hive, ache or watery eye. It is written by a professional gardener with a lifetime of experience of accidents that can happen in the garden and of how to cure/respond within the garden context using plants and items at hand in the garden. All the dots are joined, you won't need a book on herbs, a book on homemade remedy preparation and a garden plant reference - they are all combined in the first aid advice in this book.

After decades of fantasizing and saving, of working multiple jobs and embracing frugality in the midst of Manhattan, Martha Leb Molnar and her husband had found their farm. Determined to turn an overgrown and unproductive Vermont apple orchard into a thriving and beautiful landscape, they decided to restore this patch of land to a pristine meadow and build a safe haven for their family and nearby wildlife.Once they cleared the gnarled and dying trees away, Molnar was forced to wage war on the invasive species that have sprung up around the property. Propelled by the heated debates surrounding non-native species and her own complicated family history and migration, she was driven to research the Vermont landscape, turning to scientific literature, experts in botany and environmental science, and locals who have long tended the land in search of answers. At turns funny, thoughtful, and conversational, Playing God in the Meadow follows this big city transplant as she learned to make peace with rural life and an evolving landscape that she cannot entirely control.