34 Gardening


71944 VICTORIAN GARDENER by Anne Wilkinson


Drawing on the vast wealth of contemporary gardening magazines from the Victorian era, and on other sources, the author provides extraordinary insights into the practices of the Victorian gardener. In the 1860s, a new breed of gardeners was emerging. Their gardens ranged from cottage and rectory gardens to those found behind terraced houses in towns. These innovators laid the foundations for modern amateur gardening as it is today. They learnt by trial and error and, by persistence and dogged determination, turned the horticultural world upside down. With foreword by Bob Flowerdew. 236 pages illustrated in b/w with contemporary photos, 13 colour plates. Places to Visit. Softback. £14.99 NOW £4


72181 WISE WORDS AND COUNTRY WAYS: For


Gardeners by Ruth Binney A glorious celebration of time- honoured, traditional gardening recipes which she has gathered together the wisdom and sayings of generations of enthusiastic gardeners, ordinary people as well as such luminaries as Vita Sackville-West and Robert


Thomson. It combines good, old-fashioned advice with up-to-date info on everything from being aware of the seasons and wildlife in your garden to growing better fruit, vegetables, herbs and trees. 208 pages, illus. £9.99 NOW £3


72457 HANDBOOK OF BONSAI by Craig Coussins


Bonsai originated in China, where it is called penjing, but in the 17th century the Japanese adopted 30 Chinese species and started to develop their own unique form of cultivation. During the 1960s Bonsai trees were exported to the west, but many growers killed the plants through ignorance. Today the art of Bonsai is better understood, and growers throughout the world produce impressive specimens, some of which are pictured in this practical book. When choosing a Bonsai the beginner is advised to select a quick-growing species such as maple, juniper or cypress. Pruning, pinching, cutting-out, potting and repotting are important techniques, and as your Bonsai matures, single and multiple wiring will create your desired shape. 240pp, softback, colour photos. £12.99 NOW £3.75


72622 OH GARDEN OF


FRESH POSSIBILITIES! Notes from a Gloucester Garden by Kim Smith Recommended for gardeners seeking both sensible guidance and design inspiration, this volume contains 22 chapters that illuminate every aspect of planning and planting. Eclectic in its approach, citing poetry and quotations from Eastern and Western sources, it


challenges readers with an artist’s eye, while drawing from down-to-earth practical experience. It is as much about how to visualise a garden as about particular trees, shrubs, vines, perennials and annuals. The author is sensitive to the plants’ forms, hues and horticultural demands and has established a succession of blooms and a selection of plant materials that reduce the need for pesticides and herbicides. Much more than another how- to book. 211 pages, delicate watercolours. $35 NOW £5


72609 GROWING CHINESE VEGETABLES IN


YOUR OWN BACKYARD by Geri Harrington Part one looks at 40 of the most widely enjoyed plants, divided into cucurbits (melons), beans, cabbages, radishes, herbs and water-plants and for each provides an illustration, instructions on their history, culinary use, appearance, germination, planting, soil preference, harvesting, storage and varieties. Part two shows how to be successful in real-world backyard gardening, advising on soil maintenance, what pots and other containers and equipment are needed. Drawings. 216pp. $16.95 NOW £4


72681 WILLIAM ROBINSON: The Wild Gardener


by Richard Bisgrove


William Robinson is best known for his fervent endorsement of ‘wild gardening’ - including the naturalising of bulbs. His discovery of Alfred Parsons as the ideal artist to illustrate his ideas helped to foster a new era of the ‘plantsman’s picturesque’ and thus to launch the ideal of the English cottage garden, which is apparent in such gardens as Hidcote Manor and Sissinghurst, and has resonated around the world ever since. As a young man, he travelled throughout Britain, then to Paris, the Alps, North Africa and across North America. These experiences led to a constant stream of opinionated publications on subjects ranging from asparagus cultivation to cremation and from the advantages of wood fires to the evils of the bedding-out system. His hugely successful journals, and later his home at Gravetye Manor - now a hotel - provided a platform and focus for other great horticultural names such as Gertrude Jekyll, Frank Crisp, Ellen Willmott and E. A. Bowles. His views on a sustainable approach to life have important lessons for the 21st century. 256 pages 24cm x 29.5cm illus in colour and b/w. £30 NOW £14


72705 CAREFREE PLANTS:


Hundreds of Trouble-Free Winners for a Beautiful Garden


by Daphne Ledward Here are bulbs, herbaceous perennials, flowers, foliage, even berries and bark that will bring colour all year round, as well as a great deal of inspiration, plus practical advice on lawns, ground cover, water gardens and containers. You will never look back. 352 softback pages 25.5cm by 25cm with more than 850 photos in dazzling colour, with plant directory and A-Z of more than 250 plant profiles. £14.99 NOW £5.75


72652 HISTORIC GARDENS


OF ENGLAND: Oxfordshire by Timothy Mowl


Oxfordshire has star-ranking gardens at Buscot, Buckland, Pusey and Faringdon. This last has the most imaginative 20th century garden, with Robert Heber Percy’s swimming pool guarded by two giant stone wyverns and a Gothick tower on top of a Ziggurat. The


county has at least three more five-star gardens. At Sandford Park there is a Regency double-faced Chinese Temple . Stylistically linked, but of the 1960s, is the Japanese Garden at New House, Shipton-under Wychwood. Friar Park, with its underground lakes, ice caves and enchanting fake Matterhorn. These are but a few of the gorgeous sites described in this tempting book. 192 paperback pages, colour and b/w with plans, map dated 1751, modern map and gazetteer. £17.99 NOW £5


72714 GORGEOUS GARDENING BOOSTERS: 1,001 Fast and Effective Ways to Improve Your Garden published by Reader’s Digest ‘Discover the top 20 super boosters’ and ‘Find out which plants, tools and materials are star performers - the best of the best’. Tried and tested tips, handy hints and expert know-how, to bring out the true potential of our plot. Now we are confident that our roses will bloom for longer, our fruit trees will yield a more plentiful crop and our borders will have the wow factor. 288 pages 21.5cm x 27.5cm in riotous colour. £14.99 NOW £5.75


72713 FOOD FROM YOUR


GARDEN AND ALLOTMENT: All You Need to Know to Grow, Cook and Preserve Your Own Fruit and Vegetables


published by Reader’s Digest


Nowadays, more and more gardeners are rediscovering the tradition of growing their own fruit and vegetables. In this complete A-Z grow-it, harvest-it, cook-it, store-it guide you will find all you need to know about more than 100 crops, from all the kitchen staples to more exotic ingredients such as artichokes and kohlrabi, together with expert advice on planning your plot, sowing, understanding and improving your soil, planting, pruning, training, propagating, taking cuttings and more. You will also find dozens of delicious recipe ideas for jams, chutneys, pickles and home-made wines. 320 softback pages 26.5cm x 21cm, colour illus. £14.99 NOW £5


72741 SMALL IS BOUNTIFUL: Grow Your Own Vegetable and Fruit in Small Spaces by Liz Dobbs


Even the smallest space can yield a bountiful harvest if you know how to use it well and this bright and colourful book, shows us how. We were absolutely amazed at the quantity and quality of produce you can grow in pots, planters, windowboxes and other containers, and nothing beats the taste of fresh fruit and veg straight from the plant to the plate. The Small Bites section looks at herbs, chillies and salad items that are easily grown in pots, and this is followed by the Bigger Servings chapter in which we are shown how to make the most of larger containers to accommodate lettuces, courgettes, strawberries, potatoes and other bulkier crops. The final section dedicates over 50 pages to the 34 plants most suitable to a balcony vegetable garden, with full details on when, where, sun, soil, spacing, planting, care and harvesting, plus a wealth of tips for success. Hundreds of colour photos, 160pp, 9½” square. £14.99 NOW £6.50


72750 YOUR HERB GARDEN MONTH-BY- MONTH by Barbara Segall


If you long to create and maintain a garden of aromatic, culinary and decorative herbs, this book is easy to use month-by-month format, with seasonal tasks planned out for you, plus tips, checklists and plant profiles. Here are harvest herbs for cooking, drying and preserving, as well as instructions on how to make pot pourri and scented gifts. 144 softback pages 19.5cm x 26.5cm lavishly illustrated with delicate line drawings and soft watercolours.


£12.99 NOW £4.50 72779 PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO


GARDENING FOR SENIORS by Patty Cassidy This beautifully illustrated book covers all aspects of gardening, including warm-up exercises that will help to avoid strain. She explains how to bend down and lift things safely, together with techniques of digging to minimise jarring, and also covers weeding, watering and mulching for those with limited mobility. Low- maintenance gardens and plants, including shrubs, perennials and ground cover, are a recommended option, with raised flower beds for the wheelchair-bound. Colourful gardens give pleasure to the visually impaired, and it is also possible to organise your planting to maximise pleasant sounds such as the rustle of grasses and the hum of insects. Among the specific projects described here are patio gardens, window boxes, vertical planting on walls and fences, and making a raised bed from wood, bricks or a kit. A plant directory concludes, including fruit, vegetables and indoor plants. 256pp, large format, 900 gorgeous photos. ONLY £8


72806 LITTLE GREEN BOOK OF GARDENING: 250 Tips For an Eco Lifestyle by Diane Millis


250 practical tips that will set you on the path to becoming truly a ‘green’ gardener. Reduce pollution, recycle your food scraps and garden cuttings into crops that will grow more food and create a haven for wildlife. Invest in drip irrigation or go grey using bath water, grow from seed, recycle plastic pots, grow fragrant flowers and herbs to use fresh or dried, make good use of your fruits and use eBay to buy or swap unwanted items. 128pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £2.50


73176 BEDSIDE BOOK OF THE GARDEN by Dr D. G. Hessayon


Here is a just-lazing book to settle back and enjoy, filled with the wonderful features and the fascination of our favourite national pastime. In these pages, you will discover gardens you may never see, plants you may never grow and people you will never meet, but each one has its own special story, casts its own enchantment and has lessons to teach all of us who love our gardens. Here too are all sorts of gentle, garden-linked jobs to do indoors, from making wine to windowsill allotments. You will also find a wealth of surprising facts, folklore and favourite sayings. 334 pages, line drawings and silk bookmark.


£12.99 NOW £5.50 WORDSWORTH EDITIONS


25257 VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE by Charles Darwin Darwin’s writings as an


independent naturalist on the HMS Beagle between 1831 and 1836 capture the natural world’s beauty in his own sublime language. In a travel journal which takes us from the coasts and interiors of South America to the South Sea Islands, his descriptive powers are constantly challenged, but never once overcome. Here is his


speculative mind at work, posing questions about the Earth’s structure, animal forms, anthropology and the origins of life itself. 480 page reprint in paperback. Line illus.


ONLY £4 39654 COLLECTED POEMS


OF RUDYARD KIPLING This edition of the poetry of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) includes all the poems contained in the Definitive Edition of 1940. In his lifetime, Kipling was widely regarded as the unofficial Poet Laureate, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. His poetry is striking for its many rhythms and popular forms of speech, and Kipling was equally at


home with dramatic monologues and extended ballads. He is often thought of as glorifying war, militarism, and the British Empire, but an attentive reading of the poems does not confirm that view. This edition reprints George Orwell’s hard-hitting account of Kipling’s poems, first published in 1942. 880pp. Paperback. ONLY £4


25248 RIGHTS OF MAN by Thomas Paine


Published as a reply to Burke’s Reflections of the Revolution in France, Rights of Man is a classic statement of the belief in humanity’s potential to change the world for the better. Paine writes with the vigour of a self-taught mast-maker and excise man. With a passion and rapier wit, he advocates such measures as free education, old age pensions,


welfare benefits and child allowance over 100 years before these things were introduced in Britain. The work remains a compelling manifesto for social change. 240 page reprint in paperback. ONLY £4


39775 CANTERBURY TALES by Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1340-1400) was one of the finest storytellers in the English language, as well as being a great poet and an accomplished prose writer. The Canterbury Tales tells the story of 90 pilgrims who meet by chance at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, London, and journey together to the shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury cathedral. To pass the time along the way, they tell


stories to one another. The Tales themselves range from the exemplary saints’ lives told by the nuns, to the bawdy, comic tales of the miller and the reeve, always shot through with Chaucer’s cunning wit and dry humour. Its ‘on-page’ notes enable readers with little or no previous experience of Medieval English to read and enjoy this landmark in English Literature. 706pp, paperback. ONLY £4


59994 THE CASTLE by Franz Kafka


Translated and with an introduction by John R. Williams in 2009 which reads, ‘The novel remained unfinished, indeed, it breaks off in mid-sentence. We have no indication whatever whether K will ever gain acceptance or be granted access to Klamm. Max Brod claimed that Kafka told him K was to be informed on his death bed that the Castle authorities had,


exceptionally, given him permission to stay in the village.’ Kafka’s final novel was written during 1922 when he was already at an advanced stage of TB which was to kill him. The novel is enigmatic and an allegory of the sprawling Austro-Hungarian Empire as it disintegrates into modern nation states. It is the search by a central European Jew for acceptance or perhaps it is a spiritual quest for grace or salvation. 283pp in new Wordsworth paperback. ONLY £4


10800 DICKINSON: The


Selected Poems by Emily Dickinson The daughter of a lawyer from Amhurst, Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was initially a vivacious, outgoing person, but she progressively withdrew into a reclusive existance. Emily was a truly undiscovered genius during her lifetime and astonishingly only seven out of her total of 1,775 poems were published prior to her


death. She had an immense breadth of vision and a passionate intensity and awe for life, love, nature, time and eternity. Originally branded an eccentric, she is now recognised as a major poet of great depth, startling originality and courage. 214pp. Paperback. ONLY £4


59979 RIP VAN WINKLE, THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW AND OTHER STORIES


by Washington Irving Rip van Winkle is an amiable man whose home and farm suffer from his lazy neglect; a familiar figure about the village, he is loved by all except his wife. One autumn day he escapes her nagging to wander up into the mountains and there,


after drinking some liquor offered to him by a band of very strange folk, he settles down under a shady tree and falls asleep. He wakes up 20 years later and returns to his village to find that not only is his wife dead but war and revolution have changed many things. ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ tells of conscientious schoolmaster Ichabod Crane. Orderly and strict in school, out of school his life is disorderly and his head full of fearful fantasies. Three equally compelling stories, ‘The Spectre Bridegroom’, ‘The Pride of the Village’ and ‘Mountjoy’, complete this collection of classic tales from the inspired pen of Washington Irving, one of America’s greatest writers. 172 page paperback. ONLY £2


25242 NICOMACHEAN ETHICS by Aristotle,


introduced by Stephen Watt Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.) is the philosopher who has had most influence on the development of western culture - natural sciences, philosophical topics of logic, metaphysics and ethics. To the poet Dante he was simply the master of those who know. The Ethics contains his views on what


makes a good human life. It continues to stimulate modern philosophers and the argument is easily accessible to the non-specialist. Both as a key influence in the history of ideas and as a work containing insights into the human condition, it demands to be read. At this price it is unmissable. Paperback. ONLY £3


25259 CONCISE PEPYS edited by Tom Griffiths Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) began his celebrated diary on the 1st January 1660 immediately prior to the Restoration of Charles II to the throne and subsequent loosening of the rigid moral and social codes enforced during the Puritan Commonwealth. As variously Clerk to the Council, an MP, a prisoner in the Tower of London, twice


Secretary to the Admiralty and President of the Royal Society, Pepys was in a unique position to observe and record in detail a fascinating ten-year period of English history. This included not only the Restoration, but the Great Plague of 1665 and the Fire of London the following year. A regular attendant at the King’s Theatre, he was a hearty eater and drinker and delighted in recording his fondness for women, especially his own and his friends’ young servant girls. 816 page paperback. ONLY £4


10866 SELECTED POEMS OF CHRISTINA


ROSSETTI intro by Katharine McGowran Christina Rossetti is widely regarded as the most considerable woman poet in England before the 20th century. No reading of 19th century poetry can be complete without attention to this prolific and popular poet. Rossetti’s inner life dominates her poetry, exploring loss and unattainable hope. Her divine poems have a freshness and toughness of thought, while many of her love poems are erotic, and as often express love for women as for men. The varied threads of Rossetti’s concerns are drawn together in what is perhaps her greatest poem, the strange and ambiguous Goblin Market. Paperback, 304pp. ONLY £4


33874 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION


by Gustave Flaubert A Sentimental Education has been described both as ‘the first modern novel’ and ‘a novel to end all novels’. Weaving a poignant love story into his account of the 1848 Revolution, Flaubert shows a society in the grip of stereotypes, on every level. There is something farcical in his depiction of characters aspiring to act but dogged by cliché


at every turn, alike in love and politics. Even more than Madame Bovary, A Sentimental Education is an indictment of modern consumerism, contrasting the hollowness of material achievements with the lingering beauty of the ideal. Flaubert’s study of success and failure offers us a terrible sadness in a terrible beauty, and yet is also one of the world’s great comic masterpieces. 480pp. Paperback. ONLY £4


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