As part of Falmouth’s Spring Festival week of activities, there will be the launching of a newly programmed “lecture and lunch” event – a series of stimulating lectures on a variety of topics, given by experts in their own field.  The lecturer for Spring Festival Week will be award winning garden historian Russell Bowes, who has delivered lectures on a diverse range of subjects for The National Trust, Imperial War Museum, National Portrait Gallery and the Museum of Garden History in London.

Wed 21^st March, 10.30am start – The Painted Garden

Take a virtual tour through some of the major art galleries of the world and a journey through all the major trends and fashions in gardening, explored through the medium of paintings.

Thurs 22^nd March, 10.30am – The Art of the Folly

This is an entertaining and lighthearted look at some weird, wonderful and whimsical garden buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Lecture only tickets cost £4.50 and a combined ‘Lecture & Lunch’ ticket is £15 and includes a 2 course lunch in the new Garden Room Bistro. Both tickets also include the option to take part in a guided tour of the newly restored gardens in the afternoon, and an opportunity to chat with the on site gardener.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to book tickets this can be done through the Box Office: 01326 211222 which is open weekdays from 9am-1pm.

This book was published after the Journal deadline and I intended to skim through it quickly and write a short review.  But two pages in and I was hooked!

The author, Trish Gibson, is known to us as editor of this Journal and as a recorder for the Trust. She also has an MA in garden history and this biography blends that scholarship with her highly readable style. I had expected a small volume but this is a thick coffee-table-sized book which is illustrated throughout with photographs and plans, the majority of them Brenda Colvin’s own.

I have to confess I hadn’t heard of Colvin. She died in 1981, yet so many of her pioneering principles of garden and landscape design are still used today. Elected President of the Institute of Landscape Architects in 1951, she was the first woman to be president of any environmental or engineering profession. This book follows her life and work, linking her career by themes rather than strict chronological order. Her output was prolific: her notebook lists 675 projects. From small London gardens and her own garden in the Cotswolds to grander settings such as Buscot Old Parsonage and the Habsburg ‘New Castle’ in Poland, she created stylish gardens of great energy, easy to maintain, and revealed sensitivity and profound knowledge in the plants used.  Her landscape projects demonstrated her great understanding of the importance of the surrounding scenery, the land forms, the local climate, the needs of people, and the wildlife, and included new towns such as East Kilbride and Aldershot Military Town, the University of East Anglia, power stations and reservoirs.

Colvin’s great spirit is also well captured. She had a preference for sports and soft-top cars, she drove around Britain and Europe, inspired students, challenged clients and architects, and, in 1970, took part in a protest against the route of the M40. The book finishes with notes, biographies of people mentioned in the text, a bibliography, a transcript of Colvin’s notebook and an index.  I recommend it as an interesting biography, a history of garden and landscape design in the 20^th century, a guide for garden visitors, and a useful reference for anyone wishing to create or change a garden.

Shirley Barnes

Sue Minter, a personal colleague of mine, has produced a very detailed biography of a little known Victorian and Edwardian horticulturalist, Alicia Amherst, later Lady Rockley.  Her archives were locked away for many years at Chelsea Physic Garden where she was on the management committee from 1899 till 1941. Sue Minter, as curator from 1991 to 2001, had access to these archives and the enthusiasm to research this biography.

I was initially unsure of the title, ‘Founder of garden history’, however on reading the book it transpires that Alicia’s early published works – A History of Gardening in England (1895) and London Parks and Gardens (1907) are treasured documents of garden historians today.

Alicia Amherst was born in 1865 into a privileged background. Her father, Lord Amherst, was an MP; he was an antiquarian and collector of Egyptology. Her mother Margaret, née Mitford, was also a keen Egyptologist. The family were very charitable philanthropists and had a great love of travelling. This gave Alicia connections and involvement with many influential people. Her wide education allowed her to follow her horticultural interests alongside the social, political and technological developments of the time.

Alicia married Evelyn Cecil in 1898. Becoming the wife of a Tory minister ensured that, along with her passion for gardens and botany, Alicia became a politician and energetically involved in British Women’s Emigration and then overseas settlement of British women in the colonies. She had a special interest in the training of women in horticultural skills; four of the women with diplomas from the college in Swanley emigrated to Natal in South Africa to run farming and horticultural projects.

The book reads as a thesis full of accurate references and a detailed bibliography. References to Amelia’s own diaries – especially on the family travels through France, Spain and Italy on their way to Egypt – together with beautiful photos of her paintings produced whilst travelling with husband Cecil to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand all give an inspirational balance between factual information and anecdotal writing.

It is not a coffee table book or for lay readers. However it is certainly more than a book just to be read by scholars in garden history as it entwines the social history of the Victorian and Edwardian eras with the aspirations of the British Empire at the time. It was a very educational read and insight to both.

Hilary Bosher

This attractively and lavishly illustrated book is an ideal present for friends who claim (truthfully) not to know much about the history of gardens, but delight in visiting them. It is not a reference or handbook, such as one which Cornwall Gardens Trust members might keep on their bookshelves. Its ever-so-slightly patronising title accurately describes what the author, Lorraine Harrison sets out to achieve. Harrison who has written several books on gardens, has a master’s degree in Garden History from the University of London.

The Table of Contents gives the flavour of the work: ‘Types of Gardens, Styles of Gardens, Trees, Plants and Flowers, Landscape Features, Garden Buildings, Features.’ Each section is preceded by a double spread illustration, not necessarily linked in subject matter to the succeeding chapter, and a short ‘Introduction’.  The rather arbitrary organisation of the topics is redeemed by tiny but charming pen and wash drawings illustrating the features described. These are credited to Coral Mulan in the acknowledgements. The format is pocketbook sized and the type (nine point) is something of a challenge to those without 20/20 vision.

A personal ‘user test’: if you consult the Index for ‘beeboles’ you are directed incorrectly to page 244, instead of 224, where they are described but not illustrated. The Glossary defines one as ‘an arched niche set into a wall to protect traditional bee skeps from the weather.’ ‘How to Read Gardens’ is a preliminary taster for further exploration.

The foreword is written by Juliet Nicolson, the granddaughter of Sir Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West, who describes the experience of growing up at Sissinghurst.

Pam Dodds

Firstly this book is directed at the US market, aimed at parents/teachers of children from Kindergarten through to 8^th Grade (equivalent of our Reception (4-5 years of age) through to year 9, that is 13- to14-year-olds).  However, within this lavishly illustrated book there are no photos of children over the age of about 10, nor are any of the activities directly related to older students whereas there are plenty specifically aimed at the younger ones. Therefore, I would say that that the book will be most beneficial to those dealing with children up to end of our Key Stage 2 (10- to11-years-old).

That aside it is a very useful book, giving numerous suggestions for getting round problems which occur in the process of school gardening eg recalcitrant head teacher, having no money, having no equipment etc followed by what to do with the garden once it is up and growing; there is a lovely chapter on school garden recipes. I also like the fact that the book does not make the process sound easy, which as anyone who has been involved in a school garden project will attest to. Right from the start the authors acknowledge that without a band of dedicated parents nothing much will happen, it is them that will provide the enthusiasm, the labour and the finance through donation and/or fundraising.

Interestingly the authors suggest for the long-term success of a school garden that a ‘garden educator’ be appointed and that a salary of around $15,000 pa be allowed for this. They even provide a job description and an application procedure for parents to follow. So either funds are much easier to come by in the States or that’s one hell of a lot of cake and cookie sales.

This book is inspirational, mostly keeps its feet on the ground and would be a valuable addition to any school’s, or parents’, resources.

Claire Hewlett

 This coffee-table book can be compared to your favourite box of chocolates, full of wonderful small chunks to be savoured over time. The title suggests a book full of warming affection and it does not disappoint.

It has been compiled by Linda James of the Dixter office and begins with a foreword by Beth Chatto, a close friend of Christo’s, commenting that all the contributors are like his extended family. It is not a formal biography and the editor has chosen themes linked with short but evocative paragraphs. The contributors are all well-respected people in horticulture worldwide who came into contact with the grand master as friends, acquaintances, through business and travel. It includes memories, anecdotes and thoughts about ‘Christo’, as Christopher Lloyd was affectionately known. It was touching for me to find entries by people I know personally.

It is filled with beautiful photos of the garden and planting, plus a clear map – a saviour for the likes of people like me who always want to know where they are and where they are going next! The editor used these contributions to weave together an intriguing and sensitive atmosphere of both Christo and Great Dixter. One feels involved from the inside and not an observer looking in. This was achieved by the conventional biography already attempted by Stephen Anderton.

Christo was a gardener, a writer, a good cook and a lover of music and opera. I would have got on well with him, apparently he liked people who came armed with pen and notepad and took notes! He also liked lapsang souchong tea, a delight of mine.

Dixter, now known as Great Dixter, is in Northiam, East Sussex: it was a historical 15^th century home. Bought by Christopher Lloyd’s father, Nathaniel, who commissioned Lutyens in 1910 to clear the 15^th-century house of the later alterations, he added new domestic quarters to accommodate an Edwardian household and a further wing. When his father died and the family moved away, Christo lived there with his mother Daisy (affectionately called ‘the management’), finally on his own with Fergus Garrett as his head gardener.

This book wonderfully entwines both Dixter and Christo into an evocative priceless treasure; I too now feel part of the extended family. Please savour the Dixter magic for yourselves.

Hilary Bosher

The title suggested to me that this book would feature owners and designers of well known gardens, both contemporary and from the past and, indeed, familiar figures such as Gertrude Jekyll and Beth Chatto do have a place. However, the author has taken a very wide view of the term ’Gardens’; topics covered include early women botanists, gardening schools for women such as the well-known Waterperry School near Oxford, women writers of articles and books, often directed specifically at other women; there is even a chapter on war-time land-girls.

A large section deals with plant and flower illustration, ranging from the ladylike pursuit of sketching wild flowers, to famous flower painters, such as Marianne North, whose collection is displayed at Kew Gardens; there is even a section on those exquisite 18^th-century depictions of flowers using paper ‘collages’ which was a short-lived, fashionable hobby.

At least since medieval times, it had been usual for the mistress of the house to tend the herb garden and to oversee the garden as a source of food, but it took many years for women to assume a more prominent role. By the 18^th and early 19^th centuries a few women had established major plant collections; for instance Lady Dorothy Nevill, with 13 glasshouses as well as prodigious herbaceous borders, had notable collections of orchids and of ferns, some not even possessed by Kew gardens, and provided rare specimens for Sir William Hooker and also Charles Darwin. At this time botany was thought to be almost the only scientific pursuit suitable for ladies, even though the Linnaean classification system, being based on sex, was considered unseemly for women’s use. The concluding chapter discusses recent changes to many of these prejudices; for instance, not only are there now many distinguished women garden designers but also several female head-gardeners; increasingly presenters of television gardening programmes are female. Women occupy positions of authority in various horticultural organisations and one only has to go to a meeting of any garden society to observe that the majority of members are women.

Many interesting nuggets of information are to be found here, such as the fact that Gertrude Jekyll would only allow one type of flower in her arrangements as it implied that one owned a ‘cutting garden’ quite distinct from the ornamental flower beds. However, this book seems more suited for dipping into for such information, being more like an encyclopedia, rather than for a lengthy read.

Alison.A.Newton

This is a book that reminds the reader how far garden history has advanced in recognition over recent decades. With this increased awareness of the historic importance of many heritage gardens grew a kindred sense of their social value at many levels. The importance of conserving historic gardens through preservation and their re-creation through restoration became understood as being as necessary as the conservation of other historic features in our landscape. Disciplines such as garden archaeology buttressed the work of archivists in research efforts, whilst practical processes of sympathetic management became more formalised at many historic gardens.

English Heritage has been one of organisations at the forefront of this positive change. This book introduces the gardens cared for by this public body and its work to balance the need of conservation, public access and education.  In coffee-table format, it has many current and archive photographs accompanying the history of many English Heritage gardens. These accounts range from the high Victorian pleasure gardens of Osborne House through the grounds of the romantic ruin of Old Wardour Castle in Wiltshire to the landscape park of Chiswick House in London. Let us hope, with massive public spending cuts looming, that the work of English Heritage in conserving some our finest garden heritage is not compromised.

Colin Skelly

Sara Oldfield, with a career in conservation for over 30 years and as General Secretary of the charity Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), is well placed to write this book, which sets out to record the vital role that botanic gardens around the world are playing in the fight to save plant species. Royalties from the book go to supporting the work of the BGCI.

When the Eden Project fully opened in March 2001, more and more people were made aware of the importance of plants in our everyday lives. In fact, all life depends on the flora which is often taken for granted and it is so easy, when looking around a garden so full of colourful plants, to ignore the truth. The reality is that we are facing a crisis as scientists estimate that one third of all flowering plant species are threatened with extinction.

This book considers the essential conservation role of botanic gardens. Chapters feature gardens from around the world, including the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Germany, Turkey, Uganda, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil and China, revealing how a global network is striving to save our botanical heritage. One serious omission is the significant international work undertaken by the Eden Project. In this well-illustrated book, we are taken behind the scenes at botanic gardens around the world to be shown the important but little-known work that goes on in these ‘Arks’ to safeguard plant species. Readers’ interest is enhanced as gardeners and botanists lend a personal angle and comments to the text.

We are shown examples of areas with ecological restoration around the world, often maintained by volunteers. There is a useful section entitled ‘taking action’ which describes websites concerned with global conventions and about voluntary organisations that are supporting plant conservation around the world and how we can get involved.

Sara says that while it’s easy to feel powerless in the face of big, global environmental issues, botanic gardens can inspire us to do our bit. I particularly liked the ‘action at home’ section that suggests what we as individuals can do to make positive change to conserve plants.

David F.J. Pearce

‘The moment you open the little door leading off the single main street in Giverny, you think … you are entering a paradise.’  So wrote Gustave Geffroy of his friend’s garden. The friend, of course, was Monet, whose garden is probably the most famous of artist’s gardens.

This book spreads much wider than Giverny, to the other gardens – both their own and public spaces – whose layout and character was created (or selected) and painted by the Impressionists. As with the artists, the main focus is on France but it also brings in the rest of Europe and the USA.

I found it a volume that can be read on several levels.  It looks like a beautiful coffee-table book. At the turn of every page each garden is illustrated by an Impressionist painting – over 97 of them – accompanied by a descriptive paragraph. The ‘Catalogue’ considers each picture in greater depth and includes details of the design and planting of the garden, although I would have preferred it if the full description had accompanied each illustration. The Foreword, Introduction and section introductions provide a history and background of Impressionist paintings of gardens, outside scenes and flowers; and the notes and bibliography lead to further research.

To the Impressionist painter, the garden was ‘a prime artistic laboratory, a place for dedicated investigation of the effects of colour, light and atmosphere on figures, flowers and plants.’ All of these elements are captured here by Dr Willsdon  (who was Guest Curator of the Impressionist Gardens exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland in 2010), leading the reader to understand how the Impressionists’ passion for gardens gave rise to some of the most significant paintings of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It’s a book that will give pleasure to both gardening enthusiasts and art lovers. At just £14.95 I have already bought two copies to give as gifts.

Shirley Barnes