How to Read Gardens is the essential guide for garden lovers and visitors alike. Visiting gardens has never been more popular but not many of us understand what we are looking at when strolling through a beautiful garden - are we looking at an original landscaped site or a recreation? Is the planting matter authentic or made up of modern hybrids? Are the steps and terracing in the Italianate style or are they Arts and Crafts? The truth is that most gardens of any age are like a palimpsest: successive generations have changed and influenced the soft and hard fabric of the place over time. Inevitably many of the gardens we wander through today are an amalgam of changing fashions and circumstance. How to Read Gardens gives you all the knowledge you need to tease out the clues that will tell you the complete story of a garden's past. From the grandest estate to the smallest suburban plot, this book will enliven and inform every visit.

You've seen the county's glorious gardens, now find out about the garden designers, plant hunters and botanical brains behind them. What makes their green thumb prick, why do they feel so passionate about all things horticultural? There are as many types of gardener as there are styles of garden, and Lorraine Harrison has done well to fit so many into such a small plot, from the well known-Rudyard Kipling, the Lloyds of Great Dixter and the Lodgers of Wakehurst and Leonardslee - to the obscure, such Oliver Cockerell and Helen Nussey with their French hot beds. We look at the gardeners behind public parks and spaces and those whose small private paradises are so entraling, catch some of Angus White's boundless enthusiasm for his architectural plants and even peer over the county fence to look at Derek Jarman's wonderful painterly garden in Dungeness. And there's a directory of those who didn't make first prize in the show.

Aided by this book the gardener can now answer the question "What's in a name?" and they and their garden will benefit from understanding the wealth of information that has hitherto lain hidden within the mysterious world of Latin names.' - Financial Times Online RHS Latin for Gardeners is an informative, entertaining and beautifully illustrated unravelling of the mysteries of botanical Latin. Over 3,000 Latin names are listed alphabetically, showing how plant names can reveal where a plant originally comes from (and thus its preferred growing conditions), along with such properties as its shape, form, colour, taste, and smell. Each name is clearly defined and accompanied by a pronunciation guide, and the pages are filled with attractive botanical illustrations. Fascinating feature spreads retell the adventures of important plant hunters such as Sir Joseph Banks and Alexander von Humboldt, and explain how their discoveries affect the way our gardens look today. Individual plants are also profiled throughout, showing how their names can illuminate their hidden histories. Aided by this book, every gardener, and their garden, will benefit from uncovering the wealth of information that lies within the remarkable world of Latin binomials. A little Latin can do a lot of good - apply the lore of Latin to your own garden! Contents includes... The A-Z Listings of Latin Plant Names Plant Profiles Plant Hunters Plant Themes ...And Much More!

This adorable first gardening book taken young ones through sowing and growing delicious fruit, vegetables and edible flowers on their very own Flowerpot Farm. Simple step-by-step instructions are presented in a delightful picture-book style. There are a mix of projects on offer, suitable for gardening spaces of any size, from large gardens to small window ledges. To achieve the best harvest, the young farmer is shown how plants are pollinated, and how to encourage good garden guests, and discourage garden pests. There are cute craft ideas for customising your flowerpot farm, such as decorating pots and making a bird feeder, and tasty recipes for making the most out of your homegrown harvest are included.

Whether you are a resident of the county or a short-stay visitor, a committed gardener or a reluctant one just looking for a pleasant afternoon out with a good cup of tea and piece of cake, "20 Sussex Gardens" will guide you to some of the best and most varied gardens that are regularly open to the public. Those looking for ideas for their own humble plot will find as much to delight and inform as others who seek the grand and impressive. The featured gardens cover a wide geographical, historical and stylistic spread and, where appropriate, are carefully set within their architectural context. Many of these gardens are associated with the county's leading historical, artistic and literary figures and reference to their lives will further illuminate a visit to the many lovely gardens of Sussex.

Since Latin became the standard language for plant naming in the eighteenth century, it has been intrinsically linked with botany. And while mastery of the classical language may not be a prerequisite for tending perennials, all gardeners stand to benefit from learning a bit of Latin and its conventions in the field. Without it, they might buy a "Hellebores foetidus "and be unprepared for its fetid smell, or a "Potentilla reptans "with the expectation that it will stand straight as a sentinel rather than creep along the ground.
An essential addition to the gardener's library, this colorful, fully illustrated book details the history of naming plants, provides an overview of Latin naming conventions, and offers guidelines for pronunciation. Readers will learn to identify Latin terms that indicate the provenance of a given plant and provide clues to its color, shape, fragrance, taste, behavior, functions, and more. Full of expert instruction and practical guidance, "Latin for Gardeners" will allow novices and green thumbs alike to better appreciate the seemingly esoteric names behind the plants they work with, and to expertly converse with fellow enthusiasts. Soon they will realize that having a basic understanding of Latin before trips to the nursery or botanic garden is like possessing some knowledge of French before traveling to Paris; it enriches the whole experience.