We may think we know the Royal Horticultural Society through its gardens at Wisley, Hyde Hall, Rosemoor and Harlow Carr, its flower shows including the world-famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show, its prestigious medals, awards and prizes and its libraries, laboratories, books and magazines. But the Society is in a process of subtle, sometimes radical evolution to become more open, friendly, helpful and relevant to its members who now number more than half a million, and to the wider benefit of all gardeners today. The book is a celebration of those changes and a review of the society's past, present and future. Matthew Biggs takes us behind the scenes. The idea for the Society took root at a meeting of botanists in London in 1804 and royal patronage followed. At the start of the 21st century new direction was needed and in recent years the Society has begun a 160 million pound ambitious investment programme across seven key areas. Chapters cover the campaign for school gardening, Britain in Bloom, Greening Grey Britain, Community Gardens in London, National Gardening Week, Scientific Research, Plant Health, before looking in detail at the shows and famous gardens, even teabags and bumble bees, and the Greater Manchester Garden at Bridgewater. These huge pages are liberally illustrated with colour photographs of Britain in bloom, garden designs, landscapes and effects created by thoughtful planting. 256pp, 24.8 x 28.5cm.
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Can a polytunnel be eco-friendly? Is it better to grow native veg than try exotics? What is vegan gardening? Are traditional herb gardens eco-friendly? How can I attract bees and other pollinators to my veg plot? Is a wormery worth it? How can I avoid gluts? Can planting be too dense for wildlife? Are wildflowers best? Is it ever okay to have a bonfire? Should I stop using plastic pots? How will gardening change in the next 20 years? Fun and fact filled, this guide to greener gardening is packed with more than 100 intriguing questions and practical answers with advice on how water butts, using less plastic and creating a wildlife-friendly garden, and all about ants, birds, slugs, distraction crops, small spaces, this is an environmentally friendly guide for all levels of gardening experience. Packed with colour photos, line art, drawings, in a 224 page beautifully designed hardback with pagemarker. A companion to RHS How Do Worms Work? code 91499.

Alan Titchmarsh visits six of England's most beautiful gardens in volume one. They include Killerton in Devon, Barrington Court in Somerset, Peckover House in Cambridge, Dunham Massey in Cheshire, Cragside in Northumberland, and Sheffield Park in Sussex. Volume two sees Alan at another six of the country's loveliest gardens: Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire, Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire, Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, Knightshayes in Devon, Mount Stewart in County Down and Studley Royal in Yorkshire. The third film is a journey through some of the National Trust's huge collection of gardens and again is presented by Alan Titchmarsh. The featured gardens include Stowe Landscape Garden Buckinghamshire, Rowal Lane County Down, Blickling Hall Norfolk, Powis Castle Wales, Hinton Ampner Garden Hampshire and Stourhead in Wiltshire. Boxed together all three volumes take us on a journey through some of the finest and most inspiring collections of gardens, each with a different story to tell, reflecting the flair and determination of gardeners past and present who make Britain's gardens the best in the world. Colour DVDs running time 55 minutes, 55 minutes and 52 minutes respectively. An incredible bargain price.

A rare import from the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, where the author is a curatorial assistant and an instructor in art history. His research interests include Italian and French manuscript illumination as well as the history of gardens, botany, and pharmacopeia in early modern Europe. Planted by hand for the delight of kings and lieutenants, the book celebrates the Renaissance garden which inherited the traditions established by the medieval monastic cloister and provided the foundation for the extravagant gardens of the Baroque period such as Louis XIV's renowned Versailles. The volume gathers a wide range of objects from the Getty's permanent collection between 1400 and 1600, with a focus primarily on the art of Renaissance book illumination. Vines twist and wind through page borders, the Virgin Mary seeks tranquillity amid flowers and blossoms, exotic specimens from faraway lands are delineated in detail, and members of the nobility wander through plantings, admiring their possessions. These images enable an exploration of the varied aesthetic, religious, scientific and economic meanings that gardens held in the Renaissance era. Whether connected to grandiose villas or common kitchens, they were planted and treasured in all reaches of society. Due to their ephemeral nature, most gardens have changed or been lost since the Renaissance, but this gorgeously illustrated volume allows us to appreciate gardens on many levels from the literary Garden of Love and the biblical Garden of Eden to courtly gardens of the nobility, and reveals the many activities both reputable and scandalous that took place inside. In one a man stands near a bunch of flowers called speedwell, while the woman grasps a daisy in her right hand. Around the margin are red roses, periwinkles, white and purple phlox and red currants. There are spectacular stage designs featuring grottoes, pergolas and mythological figures, the flowers and their associations and an explanation of the central axis and beds of herbs and flowers arranged in geometric patterns with a combination of sculptures, fountains and topiaries and the Renaissance ideal that art and nature are in a constant back-and-forth duel of imitating each other. 78 glossy pages, colour illus. throughout.

Put yourself in the paws of the wildlife visiting your garden and soak up the sunshine with the plants. This colourful, intelligent book reveals the secrets of the garden and, by sharing its insights, allows people to provide places for wild animals and plants to flourish in their own spaces, whether they are rural, suburban or urban settings. The book is split into seven sections: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates and plants. In the event of a visiting hedgehog, rather than feeding it milk, the guide suggests cat or dog food as an offering because it is more similar to the invertebrates such as molluscs, worms, spiders and insects which are the animal's normal food source. If wanting to provide somewhere cosy for a greater spotted woodpecker, the book advises providing a nest box which is filled with soft material mimicking decayed wood, such as expanded polystyrene foam so they can excavate a cavity to their exact specifications. Readers can learn that the common grass snake and the barred grass snake are no longer treated as one species but are both attracted to sheets of corrugated iron as they enjoy the warmth that builds up below so they can bask without feeling vulnerable. To accompany the wisdom, the book includes fantastic colour photographs such as a shot of the barking deer, which is a small and 'pig-like' animal adapted to life in thick undergrowth, an image of a common frog, which is extremely variable in its patterns and colours that range from greens to reds, and a photo of the tawny owl, which is a successful garden bird because it will prey on a variety of animals including small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects. Admire an array of moths and butterflies, use the photos to go bird spotting and keep an eye out for eels which return to rivers during their adulthood after spending several years in the sea. Paperback, colour photographs, 136pp.

Bonsai is the Japanese art of caring for trees and these miniature trees represent the next level of plant parenthood. When given the right care they can be rewarding to grow and here is a marvellous directory of over 50 popular varieties with beautiful photography capturing the unique character of every plant. Organised by outdoor and indoor, there is a Japanese white pine, Abbott's pygmy Canadian hemlock, a dwarf birch, or Alberta spruce, Little John Hinoki Cyprus, a bearberry cotoneaster with small white blooms in spring followed by berries in late summer that turn dark red in winter and colourful leaves in the autumn, it can be trained for cascading styles. Even the European olive, the willow leaf fig and the Bougainvillea with its pink tissue-papery bracts in hues of pink and scarlet we are familiar with on the sunny walls of Mediterranean homes can be bonsaied, and pruned heavily. Place in full sun, regulate soil moisture, keep between 7°C and 38°C in a well ventilated area and use a soil mix of 70% organic matter sifting out any fine particles and 30% grit and watch for aphids or white fly. With expert advice on general care, tips on pruning and styling. 144pp in a beautifully designed publication complete with glossary and list of suppliers and laid out almost like a recipe book. 100 colour illus.

'You should have gardens where you can stroll and, on occasion, host banquets...where you can arrange rare and exotic plants with care. In these places, you can especially appreciate the careful arrangement of myrtle, boxwood, citrus trees and rosemary...' Giovanni Pontano (1494). Biblical paradise on earth, here are holy figures and flowers from The Spinola Hours, the Flemish glorious colour illumination on the borders of a prayer book. Here are gardens in life and literature, trellised arches woven with flowers and grapes decorating the borders of images in these books of hours and laypersons' private prayer books. Red flowers are likely the rose campion, associated with the Crucifixion. Dreaming of Gardens sees the Romance of the Rose, an allegorical, chivalric poem that celebrates the mythical garden of Love, with illuminated copies featuring a variety of scenes that took place inside and outside the garden walls. The chapter on Villas, Châteaux and Courtly Spaces shows the illumination of the natural world and the Model Book of Calligraphy where the illustrations rival the script in beauty and complexity. Painted with spellbinding precision, we appreciate the pink and yellow striped tulip by Joris Hoefnagel whose highly accurate illuminations preserved a floral record of species from as far away as modern-day Turkey and Peru. Here are garden peas to lantern plants and rare gems like a European flower called Herb Robert. A beautifully produced J. Paul Getty Museum publication with glossy pages and dripping with colour throughout, 78 large pages.

From the Alhambra, the Taj Mahal, Tokyo Imperial Palace, Fontainebleau Palace, Prague Castle, Het Loo, Frederiksborg and Peterhof Palaces, to Highgrove, Hampton Court, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, we travel from England, Scotland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, India, Bali (the Tirta Gangga) to Japan on a royal tour. Through beautiful photographs and vivid descriptions we discover the unique style of each luxury garden design from peaceful sacred water gardens to Moorish and Renaissance influences, and an insight into the theatres of politics, power and personalities that shaped these royal gardens. With layout plans and information about key plants, this global collection takes the reader on a journey through the world's most significant horticultural gems and ways of life from an historic past like temples and palaces and swimming pools and ponds nestled in rice fields and around natural springs in Bali, and all the colours and textures, grace and beautiful design only royalty could afford. The Taj Mahal in Agra is undoubtedly one of the most important monumental sites in the world and the greatest Indo-Islamic architectural achievement - and the gardens that line the banks of the Yamuna are a wonderful insight into the period of the Mughal Empire, their dynasties, traditions and beliefs. Exquisite colour photography throughout and a text by the UK's first garden designer in a wheelchair. 240pp, 24.77 x 29.6cm.
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The lily has cultural connotations of romance, remembrance, love and innocence and can be found in literature, art and heraldry across the world where they have added dramatic elegance to gardens for centuries. With very glossy large pages and spectacular close-up colour photographs throughout, this magnificent guide celebrates the ornamental charm and delicate petals of the lily, beginning with the history of the flower from Greek and Roman mythology to the hybridisation of today. It is a reference to more than 50 well-loved and unusual varieties from the towering and prolific Arabian Knight to the fiery Viva la Vida, the pink pollen-free Distant Drum to the tall blonde bombshell Yelloween, the cheerful Perfect Joy in pink and the sophisticated orange with red spotted Lilium Superbum! Mascara has a goth-horror to it and is a lauded 'black' Asiatic hybrid. With an engaging commentary on each bloom, easy-to-follow advice and glorious photography, get the best blooms for wedding and parties, outdoor spaces or the most bountiful cut flowers. 240pp, 25.4 x 19.6cm.

England's gardens range from the Baroque splendour of Blenheim Palace, whose vast acres were designed by Capability Brown at enormous expense, to the low-density suburban housing of the 19th and 20th centuries which were planned specifically to allow the ordinary householder to own his or her plot of land. In the early 17th century Capability Brown was a millionaire many times over, although his work at Blenheim came to an abrupt end when his client the Duchess of Marlborough, Queen Anne's favourite, fell out of favour, as described in the 2018 film starring Olivia Colman. Brown kept overall control of his vast projects by using large numbers of sub-contractors, so that the failure of one of them was not an overall disaster. The author of this study is an economist by profession, and there are some interesting conclusions in his statistics relating to the fruit and vegetable consumption, and life expectancy, of different classes. A prominent feature of large country houses was the Kitchen Garden maintained by hundreds of staff. A cook was likely to insist on a certain size of fruit or vegetable to preserve aesthetic standards at the dining table, and the result was huge quantities of wasted produce, so that eventually most kitchen gardens were phased out in favour of a daily expedition to Covent Garden or other markets. The head gardener was a prestigious position which in earlier times required the holder to be formally dressed and also to be married. When the famous gardener Joseph Paxton was appointed to Chatsworth at the age of only 23, he proposed to the niece of the Housekeeper on his first morning. Head gardeners wielded enormous power over the 100 or so staff under them, and could require an apprentice to move hundreds of miles away to another estate. Royalty has always had the means to lead the way in garden design, and the author examines the changing goals and expectations in royal patronage, from Henry VIII's Hampton Court to Prince Charles's Highgrove House, with an interesting aside on the horticultural role played by Camilla Parker-Bowles, now the Queen. In the 20th century gardening became a respectable occupation for middle class women, and a few, most famously Gertrude Jekyll, became leaders in garden design. 422pp, colour photos.