If you’re looking for a new book to read, or desperate to find a gift for your garden loving friend, then take a look at these beauties!

The Ingenious Mr Fairchild by Michael Leapman

In the early 1700s the scientific world was coming to grips with the ‘shocking’ news that plants had male and female parts and reproduced sexually.  Thomas Fairchild used this new understanding to create the first man-made hybrid in Europe: a cross between a carnation and a sweet william.  It opened the door to hybridisation by man and caused quite a stir.  Whether it was right to ‘play God’ and manipulate the natural order of things was a topic of serious concern in this age.  It caused much of Fairchild’s work to be questioned, undervalued or simply overlooked for decades. 

If you look around your garden now you might be surprised to discover that almost all your plants are hybrids.  The results of man interferring with the sexual reproduction of plants to give us bigger flowers, new colours, better tasting fruit, disease resistance and other desirable traits.  For putting us on this path we have the ingenious Mr Fairchild to thank.

The Garden of Invention by Jane S Smith

Luther Burbank is what The Garden of Invention is all about.  Burbank was perhaps one of the most remarkable horticultural figures of the late 1800s and early 1900s.  His keen eye, intuition and patience lead to the creation of over 800 new cultivars – both agricultural and ornamental.  At a time where few people had the skills to breed a new plant Luther Burbank was churning them out by the bucket load.  Could he make a white blackberry, a stoneless plum, a spineless cactus or a blight proof potato?  Yes, yes, yes and yes!  In fact his Burbank potato is still used by McDonalds for their fries today.

This ability to seemingly manufacture plants at will earned him legendary status and a cult following.  Seems hard to believe in today’s age obsessed with pop stars and Hollywood actors that a horticulturist could attain such fame.  However it was far from smooth sailing for Luther.  Despite it being over 150 years after Thomas Fairchild’s work the scientific community was only just beginning to unlock the mechanics of genes and their role in hybridisation.  They were still assessing what implications this could have on society.  At the same time fortunes were to be made, and lost, through the introduction of new commercial crops.  These external forces, along with Burbank’s internal desires, made for highs and lows throughout his long career. 

These books make for interesting reading for all Plant Addicts. Both men pushed the boundaries of their eras, forcing the horticultural industry to open its eyes to new  possibilities and challenging the societal norms of the day.    

You’re unlikely to find either book in your regular bookstore so I’d recommend checking with Florilegium (my favourite gardening bookstore), Amazon or Abebooks. 

PS Don’t forget to check out The Plant Addict Shop while you’re here. 

You’ll find great gift ideas for garden lovers and fellow plant addicts!

I recently had dinner with my sister and hatched a ‘brilliant’ plan.  My sister is a teacher and works in a childcare centre.  She was chatting to me about the potatoes she recently grew with the children and how excited they all were by the success.  I suggested that together we produce a book for gardening projects with kids.  I figured that with our combined skills we could create a very useful book. 

Anyway she was only tentatively interested.   She’s had a lot on her plate lately and I think she just saw it as more work.  However I have not given up on the idea and will continue to sell it to her.  Watch this space for updates!

PS Don’t forget to check out The Plant Addict Shop while you’re here. 

You’ll find great gift ideas for garden lovers and fellow plant addicts!

Last weekend I spent a very enjoyable 3 hours in this bookstore. Florilegium is the kind of place that carries every conceivable garden book under the sun. And then there’s all the wonderful books you couldn’t conceive of but that someone else has!

Its a small store and Gil (the owner) really does know his books. If there’s a book on whatever topic fancies you, then he’ll know about it. He also carries a large range of out-of-print books, many of which are worth the read. It was through Florilegium that I discovered the very entertaining gardening author, Beverly Nichols. Writing in the 1930s and onward he has disappeared from mainstream bookstores which is a shame. (Note to self: Dig out the book I bought and do a review on it)

The best part for me is that Florilegium is only a 15 minute walk from my house. But don’t worry if you live a bit further afield – they have a catalogue and will ship to anywhere. Visit them at Florilegium Bookstore, or in person at:

Florilegium Bookstore
65 Derwent St
Glebe NSW 2037
Australia
Phone: +612 9571 8222

A beautiful coffee table book covering the extraordinary garden that is Chatsworth. Thoroughly engrossing with plenty of detail about the history of the property (which is long and illustrious) and the improvements made by the Duchess of Devonshire during her 50 plus years of stewardship.

It was by chance that I found this book, sitting on a reduced stock table and on a whim thought I’d give it a go.  It certainly didn’t disappoint.  The only mystery for me is why it was reduced in the first place!  The book is 190 odd pages and is packed full of high quality colour photographs.  It plots the evolution of the garden from inception, in 1555, and how it has been shaped by the successive Dukes and gardening styles of the day.  Drawings and images from the past are blended with current day photographs providing visual clues to the garden’s transformation.

I’m a total sucker for any book which provides a good map of the garden.  I love to track my progress around the garden as I’m reading each chapter.  This book has a delightful map located on the inside front and back cover making it very easy to refer back to.

Chatsworth has been influenced over the years by many famous garden designers and plantsmen, including George London, Henry Wise, Capability Brown and Joseph Paxton.  Paxton’s contribution to the garden and to horticulture at large is enormous and makes for great reading.

I can’t recommend this book enough.  It even inspired me to fork out a small fortune to go and visit the garden in person.  But that is a story for another day.