The English Flower Garden, book review

By William Robinson, published by Bloomsbury 1998

First published 1883

 I should really buy another copy and put this one on readitswapit but I don’t think the recipient would be too happy with a book held together by sellotape and covered in coffee rings. It’s been used and read more than any other book in my shelf, even more than G. Eckbo’s The Art of Home Landscaping and that’s a lot!

 Meadows, orchards, herbaceous borders, bog gardens, seasonal planting and even a small chapter or two on hard landscaping (nothing to detailed though) pretty much everything relating to the planting of an arts and crafts style garden is here.

 The book also contains collected lists of native and naturalised plant material (hardy plants only need apply) for most situations. Predominately much larger spaces to be honest, but you can gleam some useful info from the book if you inhabit a small space like me. (If i ever win the euromillions though i will be buying Gravetye Manor)

 I sometimes talk about planting legacy in the UK in a fairly negative way not so when it comes to the thoughts and practices of Robinson and his contemporaries. (You can probably tell I’m a fan with all the wikipedia links and everything) They tried and succeeded in a lot of ways to readdress the balance and move back to nature and away from Victorian practices and ideology.

 Don’t get me wrong it’s great that we have still have so many Victorian gardens (they did do wonderful things for fruit and vegetable growing) but the alien gaudiness of bedding displays and specimen planting has never sat right with me, and I don’t suppose it ever will.

 The book should be required reading on all garden design courses in the UK if only to help ground students and make them aware of the richness of their surroundings. If they then want to go and make fools of themselves with tree ferns and cordylines well let them, but at least we tried.

 The question of the books relevance in relation to modern gardens may be raised as the climate in the UK continues to change, albeit slowly. And obviously the majority of people do not have space for grand wildflower meadows and large herbaceous borders. Still, the rational thinking prevalent throughout the book regards working with nature rather than against it, and the core principle about planting what is right for the local environment you’re working in is relevant wherever you practice.

 I would also recommend an earlier book by Robinson The Wild Garden which although not as detailed as some of his later work, is in essence the base on which The English Flower Garden and most of his future writing was built upon.

© Peter Ward Garden Design 2011