Garden of Invention: The Stories of Garden Inventors & Their Innovations - Hardcover

GEORGE DROWER, a writer and historian specializing in garden history, is the author of Britain's widely acclaimed Dependent Territories and Overseas Territories Handbook, and articles on garden history written for The Times, the Sunday Times, the Independent, Traditional Homes, and House & Garden.

We've all read about great gardeners like Gertrude Jekyll, most famous for encouraging the use of herbaceous borders in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. But what about the innovators of the gardening world who have made a real difference in our capacity to convert awkward foundations into glorious plots? How did the garden hose originally come into existence? Who devised the plans for the world's first greenhouse? Which classical hero introduced the convenience of flowerpots in 1230 B.C.?
Garden of Invention relates intriguing stories of the many inventions, innovations, and discoveries that have transformed our gardening world. Here is Christopher Columbus, celebrated explorer of the New World, but less known for his introduction of the wigwam frame for climbing plants; and Ephraim Wales Bull, cultivator of the Concord grape, whose discovery laid the foundation for another man's empire. Also featured are several gardening entrepreneurs, like John Tradescant, who in 1627 opened the world's first nursery by the Thames at Lambeth; and Nathaniel Wallich, the adventurous Danish plant finder who introduced the rhododendron into Britain and North America in 1821 - packed in sugar! From the invention of the trellis and the wheelbarrow in the ancient world, secateurs, tree-movers, and flame-guns in the Victorian age, and the Gro-Bag and Flymo of modern times, this fascinating collection of tales of the intrepid and ingenious will captivate and inspire gardeners everywhere.