Charles Elliott is an editor and writer who lives in London and gardens in Monmouth near the Welsh border. He is a regular contributor to Horticulture magazine, and has been a magazine editor and senior editor for Alfred A. Knopf in New York. He has written several books, including The Potting Shed Papers and More Papers from the Potting Shed. He lives in Monmouthshire and West London.

CONTENTS



















INTRODUCTION







GARDEN TOURS



H. Avray Tipping and a Debate Reconciled



Piercefield and the Picturesque



A Visit to Highgrove



Royal Gardeners



Hidcote



Morville and Ninfa







ORIENTALIA



Japonaiserie



From Chinese Gardens



Pruning



A Collector in the Right Place







ECCENTRICITIES



Electro-Horticulture



Frauds and Figments



Imaginary Plants







HEROES AND HEROINES



The Tragedy of Vavilov



The Queer German



A Floral Orgy



Two Remarkable Women



Anglo-Florentines



Luther Burbank



A Galaxy of Gardeners







BOTANY



The Knotweed Challenge



The GLP



The Maize Maze



Long Live the Seeds!



Names







COUNTRY LIFE



Wild West Wind



Commuting with Cats



Logs



Critters



Time

A collection of sparkling and unpredictable essays ranging across the whole world of gardening, and sometimes slightly beyond, from the acclaimed author of The Transplanted Gardener and The Potting Shed Papers. Tales of great gardeners and heroic plant hunters share space with more personal revelations - exactly why every man needs a tractor, how to deal with woodchucks or a relentless west wind, the challenge of a knotweed infestation. Botanical frauds and heroic plant hunters, splendid gardens past and present, stirring discoveries and hopeless failures - all these and more fall beneath the writer's amused and endlessly curious eye.

Funny, informative and dependably entertaining, Elliott once again demonstrates why readers from Bill Bryson to Alan Titchmarsh have so enjoyed and praised his work.