Book description
A new edition of Nicola Shulman's miniature masterpiece about the
life of gardener Reginald Farrer A hundred years ago, there was a
revolution in British gardening, as the garden changed from being a
diversion of dukes to the hobby of millions. Few figures were more
prominent in this renaissance than Reginald Farrer, whose passion for
alpines, the most demanding of plants, would inspire generations with
a love of flowers. He was the man who put a rockery in every back
garden. Tormented by physical and emotional misfortune, Farrer was one
of those born to endless night'. Yet in the realm of horticulture his
many faults were turned to advantages, and he became one of the great
plant-hunters, collecting new species from the mountains of Tibet and
China. Through the influence of his extraordinary books, Farrer did
for English gardening what, half a century later, Elizabeth David
would do for its cookery, changing everything forever.
Nicola Shulman is a writer and reviewer for publications including
the Sunday Telegraph, the TLS and Harpers & Queen. She lives with
her family in London and in Yorkshire. Her latest book, Graven with
Diamonds, the Many Lives of Thomas Wyatt: Courtier, Poet, Assassin, Spy
was published by Short Books this year.
