Product Description

The cottage garden of today derives from two strands: the subsistence culture of the original cottagers, who grew the vegetables and herbs they needed, and the romantic notions of the gentry who, from around the seventeenth century, started to build larger cottage-style houses. The English Cottage Garden is loosely arranged as a stroll around an idyllic garden. With Jane Taylor as our guide, we enter through the wicket gate and up the garden path, discussing the medicinal and culinary herbs in the adjacent borders, take a quick lesson on the quirky art of topiary, relax on a garden seat beneath a shady bower, breathing in the fragrance of lavender and lily of the valley, admire the climbing roses and fruit growing up the cottage wall, and then inspect the greenhouse and outbuildings. Finally, we are shown a medley of flowers: some traditional, some transplanted from woodland and meadow, and some of the more sophisticated and exotic flowers now integrated into many a cottage garden.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #819009 in Books
• Published on: 1994-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

From Booklist
Most U.S. gardeners can only imagine a climate conducive to growing the lush perennials associated with English cottage-style plantings, but the fascination with this type of garden continues to flourish. A prominent gardening photographer, Larson supplies countless images of charming country homes bedecked with roses and wisteria running riot over arbors, amazing topiaries lending structural form, and flowers spilling over all sorts of delightful stone and brick pathways. Taylor comments on artists and designers who influenced English horticultural trends, explains various architectural styles, and, referring to sources both historical and literary, entertains with herbal and plant lore. Most plant descriptions are of a general nature, noting specific varieties or cultivars less often. Alice Joyce

About the Author
& PHOTOGRAPHER Jane Taylor has written eleven books about gardens, including the Kew Gardening Series, Climbing Plants, and Tender Perennials. She was a Deputy General Secretary of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens. Andrew Lawson is one of our most inspired and knowledgeable garden photographers. His pictures have illustrated many books, including Good Planting, The Terracotta Gardener, The Container Gardener, Highgrove: Portrait of an Estate, and the bestselling Garden at Highgrove. Andrew Lawson lives in Charlbury, Oxfordshire.

Customer Reviews

This book captures the English countryside.
I went to England for the first time and loved the countryside! It is so vibrant. My own photographs have never turned out very well so I bought this book while I was there to capture the England that I fell in love with. It has a wide range of beautifully photographed cottages and gardens. I am online buying 2 more copies as gifts for friends.