John Buchan's name is known across the world for The Thirty-Nine Steps. In the past one hundred years the classic thriller has never been out of print and has inspired numerous adaptations for film, television, radio and stage, beginning with the celebrated version by Alfred Hitchcock.

Yet there was vastly more to 'JB'. He wrote more than a hundred books – fiction and non-fiction – and a thousand articles for newspapers and magazines. He was a scholar, antiquarian, barrister, colonial administrator, journal editor, literary critic, publisher, war correspondent, director of wartime propaganda, member of parliament and imperial proconsul – given a state funeral when he died, a deeply admired and loved Governor-General of Canada.

His teenage years in Glasgow's Gorbals, where his father was the Free Church minister, contributed to his ease with shepherds and ambassadors, fur-trappers and prime ministers. His improbable marriage to a member of the aristocratic Grosvenor family means that this account of his life contains, at its heart, an enduring love story.

Ursula Buchan, his granddaughter, has drawn on recently discovered family documents to write this comprehensive and illuminating biography. With perception, style, wit and a penetratingly clear eye, she brings vividly to life this remarkable man and his times.

Creating a garden that has colour, beauty and architectural interest year-round is far easier than many gardeners believe. The secret is to choose versatile plants and to appreciate that brilliant autumn and winter foliage, stems and berries can create just as stunning an effect as spring and summer flowers. Selecting over 85 specially photographed plants, including shrubs, climbers, trees, perennials and other border plants, this book shows how with imagination and a little planning, a garden can look good all year, including the winter months.

Visit some of the best English gardens without moving from your armchair with this best-selling classic which features over 350 colour photographs. Gardening writer Ursula Buchan has combined forces with garden photographer Andrew Lawson to explore the English garden and capture its richness and diversity, explaining the historical trends and the work of garden makers of the past that have shaped the English gardens we see today. Exploring many garden styles including formality, the landscape tradition, the Arts and Crafts style, the cottage garden and recent phenomena such as New Naturalism, the book discusses themes such as colour, water, ornament and foreign influences, as well as such defining characteristics as the very English urge to grow flowers and the nation's love of roses. An invaluable, comprehensive and beautifully illustrated guide to one of the most established gardening traditions in the world, this book offers unmissable insight into the world of the English garden.

Foliage plays a key part in garden design. The colour, and therefore the effect, of the plant is determined by its foliage all the time it is in leaf, whereas the flowers may last only a few days. Choosing plants for different kinds of foliage effects can mean year-round interest in the garden. This book describes the range of colour and leaf shape available, provides a detailed plant list organized by colour, recommends planting positions and gives a list of nurseries.

SHORTLISTED FOR INSPIRATIONAL BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE 2014 GARDEN MEDIA GUILD AWARDS. The wonderfully evocative story of how Britain's World War Two gardeners - with great ingenuity, invincible good humour and extraordinary fortitude - dug for victory on home turf. A Green and Pleasant Land tells the intriguing and inspiring story of how Britain's wartime government encouraged and cajoled its citizens to grow their own fruit and vegetables. As the Second World War began in earnest and a whole nation listened to wireless broadcasts, dug holes for Anderson shelters, counted their coupons and made do and mended, so too were they instructed to 'Dig for Victory'. Ordinary people, as well as gardening experts, rose to the challenge: gardens, scrubland, allotments and even public parks were soon helping to feed a nation deprived of fresh produce. As Ursula Buchan reveals, this practical contribution to the Home Front was tackled with thrifty ingenuity, grumbling humour and extraordinary fortitude. The simple act of turning over soil and tending new plants became important psychologically for a population under constant threat of bombing and even invasion. Gardening reminded people that their country and its more innocent and insular pursuits were worth fighting for. Gardening in wartime Britain was a part of the fight for freedom.