Recent gardening books | 26 November 2005

Twenty years ago, gardening books never made it to the coffee table. The reader had to supply the glamorous illustrations. It was a bit like the difference between listening to the wireless and watching telly. I remember Mark Boxer, who was a publisher then, saying, ‘Once garden books start using pictures, they will sell in big numbers.’ They do, but they date and yesterday’s aspirational title is soon remaindered. This year, there are some picture books which should last longer than most, if only because they provide records of important gardens. The Country Life archive has been a good source of images, although only those that have been featured in the magazine are included, so these volumes can never present a true picture of design at the chosen moment. The latest volume, English Gardens in the Twentieth Century edited by Tim Richardson (Aurum Press, £40), contains some fascinating examples of how toffs used to surround their houses, including plenty of horror shots of how not to garden now.