England’s Magnificent Gardens: How a Billion-Dollar Industry Transformed a Nation, from Charles II to Today

Historian Floud (An Economic History of the English Garden) offers in this unique survey a wealth of data and some fascinating trivia to showcase the effect of gardens on Britain’s national economy and social landscape. The British spend over $14.1 billion a year on gardens and landscaping, Floud writes, and he explores the country’s “great gardens” including Stowe in Buckinghamshire, full of classical allusions; Stourhead, inspired by the Aegean Sea; and Wrest, which offers a “beautiful lesson in garden history.” In the 17th and 18th centuries, such gardens were “the creation of a tiny selection of the population, possessors of immense wealth, however it was obtained,” and also at times a “beautiful form of propaganda” designed to celebrate British conquests. For the working class, gardening was “a highly moral” activity, providing both exercise and an alternative to pubs. Floud closely surveys the transition from private to government funding of gardening when public parks sprang up in the 19th century, and his survey is laced with eye-opening facts (in 1664, a baron placed an order for 65 peach trees, at current value of $512 each). The result is a history as informative as it is entertaining. Photos. (June)