Author Archives: The Gardens Trust

WELCOME TO OUR 400th POST! This is an artist’s painting of his own house and garden. Any idea of where it might be? The artist was John Glover who was born near Leicester in 1767 but, despite the very English … Continue reading →

“There are a number of ways of laying out a garden. The best is by taking on a gardener.” So opens a delightful book on gardens by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. Published in Prague in 1929 with  illustrations by … Continue reading →

Did you know that the British Government spent the twenty years between the First and Second World Wars investigating the possibilities of electrifying plants?  And did so  in almost complete secrecy.  It means that last week’s perpetually electrified garden wasn’t … Continue reading →

I’ve written about many weird and wonderful inventions on here but I think this apparently madcap contraption might  take some beating!  It all started when I stumbled across an unusual engraving  in the Wellcome Collection. There was no background information, … Continue reading →

Serendipity strikes!  Last Thursday  just as I was finishing off last week’s post about trompe l’oeil paintings I saw a newsflash on a history website that it was the 400th birthday of Israel Silvestre that very day.   That probably … Continue reading →