Plants that shaped our gardens

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Why do gardens look the way they do? David Stuart argues that it is the plants themselves that drive the evolution of the modern garden. He explores how gardens have been reshaped and adapted to accommodate plants and show them off.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Botanist and biologist Stuart (The Garden Triumphant: A Victorian Legacy) here chronicles the efforts of a small number of botanists and plant collectors to retrieve exotic plants for their own gardens and the consequences for generations of professional and amateur gardeners in Europe and then America. Beginning in the Renaissance, these collectors traveled around the globe, from the Americas to the Turkish Empire to China, enduring hostile climates, pirates, famine, strange new diseases, and poverty to capture and cultivate original plant matter for European gardens. Stuart highlights the most colorful aspects of plant collection the triumphs and tragedies, the rivalries and jealousies, and even the role that politics played. The author never spends too much time on any one character but moves effortlessly from one story to the next, including those of John Fremont, "a handsome buffoon and a rascal," and the Empress Josephine, "an ardent and jealous collector" of plants. The text is gorgeously and generously illustrated throughout. While a pleasant read for the casual gardener or plant enthusiast, this volume will be a meeting of the souls for true plant lovers. Highly recommended for public libraries developing collections for impassioned gardeners and recommended for academic libraries with large botanical history collections. Marianne Stowell Bracke, Univ. of Arizona Lib., Tucson (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Gardeners select plants for their gardens and depend on plant collectors to increase the range of plants available. At the heart of this book is the idea that plants offer compelling properties that lead them to be collected and propagated; gardeners with access to these finds select particular plants, and, in turn, these selections influence the way gardens are designed. Stuart examines these themes through several chapters about plant collectors, their collections, and the changes these acquisitions created in garden design in Western culture. Biographical sketches explain the personal, political, financial, and scientific forces that drove the collectors. These are human stories of the people who risked much to bring useful plants into Western gardens. The plants are detailed with attractive illustrations gathered from classic botanical texts and archival sources. The major emphasis of this book--on the glories of introduced garden plants--masks a darker side: the invasion of nonnative species in many parts of the world, which challenges the survival of native flora and fauna. General readers; faculty and researchers; professionals. D. H. Pfister Harvard University

Booklist Review

Avid gardeners eager to obtain the newest perennial cultivar or add yet another conifer species to the garden often self-deprecatingly acknowledge their plant-collecting hobby as an addiction, yet even the most fanatic garden enthusiasts are pikers compared to the early plant collectors, who risked their lives traveling to remote and exotic lands to bring new plant species to their gardens. The world of horticulture is not usually known for its charismatic characters, but Stuart's genius lies in breathing life into historical figures whose astounding passion for plants makes for compelling reading. For those who have wondered who the "Douglas" in Douglas fir is or where petunias originated, Stuart acknowledges the contributions of intrepid botanists and horticulturists, sharing the bizarre as well as the biographical, such as Hooker's flower-picking elephants or Dampier's murderous past. Stuart digs deep to provide arcane historical background, making this meticulously researched and engagingly written treatise a must-read for ardent gardeners who want to know more about the plants that obsess them so. --Carol Haggas