WILLIAM ROBINSON'S The English Flower Garden. first published in 1883,
has now been brought up to date by Mr. Roy Hay. He has kept as close to the original as possible but has had to make many necessary additions owing to the lack of labour and space in gardens nowadays. Mr. Hay has been ably helped by specialists in herbaceous, aquatic, alpine and other plants, which makes it an important book for all gardeners. It is divided into two parts: the first is split up into headings—climbers, evergreens, lawns, borders, layout, fragrance, town gardens, etc. The second gives an alphabetical list of plants with a brief description of their appearances and habits. There are many good tips for the flower arranger as well as for the gardener,
also interesting items for the lay reader such as (on page 167): 'Experiments carried out with flowers and fruits have shown that their fragrance is greatly intensified when grown under red glass.' It is a pity that Mr. Hay should have left in some blurred engravings of distant bushes in this otherwise well- produced and useful book of reference.
CAROLINE SCOTT
Previous page
