Author Archives: The Gardens Trust

If you’ve heard of John Evelyn before now it’s probably because of his diaries which are one of our major sources of information about  the major events of the mid/late 17thc, and much much more besides. They gives a really … Continue reading →

I was giving some lectures recently on one of my favourite horticultural characters, John Claudius Loudon, who, having already written a shelf-load of books, in 1826 founded The Gardener’s Magazine, the first real piece of regular horticultural journalism. I had … Continue reading →

We tend to think of Botanic Gardens as being very much a western invention, and that the earliest ones  were founded in  northern Italy in the 16th century.  Of course it all depends what you mean by a botanic garden,  but … Continue reading →

I don’t suppose many of us think of Charles Dickens as being a gardener. Novelist, Social reformer, commentator, even actor/performer  yes, but gardener, probably not. Yet Dickens was very interested in gardens and gardening and thought England itself was  ‘the … Continue reading →