Gardeners

There are people who garden, and then there are gardeners. You can recognize the true gardener because they refer to plants by the scientific name, do their own propagation, recognize the difference between cultivars and actually have a long-term plan for their gardens. The dilettantes (like me) buy whatever is on sale and blooming, and jam it in the ground any old where. So, for the gardeners, we have The Oxford Companion to the Garden, edited by Patrick Taylor. A lot of the entries are about specific gardens and designers, but there are also a number of entries explaining landscape gardening terminology. There aren’t a huge number of photos in this book – it’s about facts, not inspiration – but the photos it does contain are stunning. And if images of Versailles inspire you to install an enormous fountain of Apollo in your yard, then so be it.