Author(s): Toby Musgrave

Gardening

This is a very accessible history of the vices and virtues of British gardeners through the ages, particularly those who shaped the National Trust gardens. From the obsessive to the visionary, the eclectic to the eccentric, each chapter explores how a range of different individuals played out their excess in a variety of gardens, thus revealing the gardens' concealed secrets - just how and why they were created; the fortunes lavished and lost; clandestine and unorthodox uses; and hidden meanings for those who want to know how to 'read' a garden. Sir Francis Dashwood's lusty garden at West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, for example, has been described as "laid out by a curious arrangement of streams, bushes and plantation to represent the female form". This is very much a reading book for those passionate about gardens and in particular historical gardens. The chapters cover: Pride and Humility; Avarice and Generosity; Envy and Love; Wrath and Kindness; Lust and Self Control; Gluttony and Temperance; and finally, Sloth and Zeal.