Ursula Buchan

Earthly paradises: the best of the year’s gardening books

Plant-hunters, fruit-growers and the glories of Rousham and Bodnant are celebrated in Ursula Buchan’s round-up

A cherry tree, from the late 14th-century Italian edition of Tacuinum Sanitatis, originally published in Arabic in the 11th century. [Bridgeman Images] 
issue 13 November 2021

Important historic gardens fall into two main categories: those made by one person, whose vision has been carefully preserved down the years, sometimes for centuries, and those that are altered and developed by succeeding generations. Rousham, in Oxfordshire, is an example of the first and Bodnant, in the Conwy valley in north Wales, the second.

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