Lives of the Great Gardeners

Times of London gardening columnist Anderton (Discovering Welsh Gardens) pays homage to gardeners throughout history in this wonderfully illustrated book. The 40 biographies, which cover 500 years of gardening around the world, plow cleanly through the lives and work of each gardener. Anderton’s subjects are varied; he covers Dutchmen and Scotsmen and Asians; sculptors and scholars; and Penelope Hobhouse, Gertrude Jekyll, and Beth Chatto. The gardeners are grouped into four inventive chapters: “Gardens of Ideas,” “Gardens of Straight Lines,” “Gardens of Curves,” and “Gardens of Plantsmanship.” This organization springs from the author’s intelligent comprehension of the big garden picture. He includes contextual cross-references and, before each biography, lists events (often odd ones) from the gardeners’ birth and death years. Anderton’s style, erudite and whimsical, delightfully dominates: “Le Notre was no writer and, to our great loss, left little behind except a few plans. And, of course, Versailles.” The nearly 250 illustrations balance Anderton’s words in a sprightly and convivial marriage. (Nov.)