Horticulturists and Head Gardeners
Publisher: Alfabet
A cultural history of gardening over the centuries
For centuries, the garden remained more or less the same, but starting in the seventeenth century, developments came thick and fast: exotic plants were bred and new techniques were devised. Drawing on the lives and work of horticulturists and nurserymen, historian Lenneke Berkhout recounts these fascinating changes in gardening. She describes how a brilliant master gardener at the Dutch court was put in charge of the English royal gardens. She tells the stories of an adventurous gardener’s son, who made a name for himself growing ripe bananas and eventually became director of the botanical garden at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. She recounts the international trade networks, how tulip fever made some stinking rich and bankrupted others, and tells the of idiosyncratic landscape architects and dutiful head gardeners in the service of the nobility. Horticulturists and Head Gardeners is a wonderful history full of flourishing gardens, lush parks and lavish greenhouses – but it also depicts the end of an era.
Praise:
‘An entertaining cultural history. (…) She gives clear accounts of the history of landscape architecture (…) and many other delightful details.’ – NRC, ****
‘What a fine book this is. It grabbed me immediately when I first took it in my hands. […] The main characters serve as a stepping stone for a sketch of our garden history, that of design and interpretation of garden and park. The various garden styles pass almost unnoticed; not exhaustive, not endless. Cleverly, Berkhout manages to sketch Dutch garden history completely and convincingly despite a lot of omissions. The life stories of the main characters also repeatedly give rise to a particular aspect of gardening itself. The ongoing story flows smoothly to explanations and then seamlessly back into the life story.’ – Het Buiten
