This was a very lovely read. This was a topic that I did not know much about, although I enjoy gardens and mini gardening, I feel like I learned a lot. In this book, Angela Youngman talks about many things related to gardening during this era from gardeners, to personal gardens, public gardens and even shows and tourism. My favorite chapter to read was the third chapter,,“The Rise of Female Gardeners”. We may associate gardening a lot with both genders and flower gardening even more with women but as we can see from this chapter, the women actually started to play a role later on which is during this time period. Without giving much spoilers, there are many interesting instances in this book, some are still related to women, that may surprise the reader which I think made the book very enjoyable. One thing I also enjoyed were the literary and other type of media references. I believe this also helps to form a connection with the general audience as well. Youngman also mentioned many.. Read more
NetGalley, Melisa Aras

"[T]his book describes a well-conducted project and deserves its place alongside other garden archaeology publications."
Garden History - November 2023

"This book is a mine of information, without ever being bogged down in trivia. It gives such a vivid picture of the development and the decline, and the regional and even local variations, that it sends the researcher, or even the casual tourist, out into the landscape with new eyes. At the same time, it leaves much scope for more local research, providing many lines of enquiry. The text is supplemented by both modern and historic illustrations, excellent footnotes and a very full bibliography."
The Local Historian - June 2024

When I review a book, I spend a few days foregoing all other books and focus on the book at hand. For me, the reason is simple: I want to give each book the consideration that authors deserve. But before I discuss Michael Brown’s work, though, I do need to mention the book’s graphic designer(s). I don’t know who designed the book, only that SJmagic Design Services of India was responsible for the typesetting. And let me tell you, they did a beautiful job with the type. The author included his own color photographs, with many of them being full-page images. But whoever was responsible for the actual graphic design of the book—the placement of photographs, the design of the plants next to the page numbers, and etc.—did a fantastic job. The minute that I opened it, I said to myself: Now THIS is what I expect from a non-fiction book on herbs and plants. All of the pages are 100% full color, and it is this color—along with the small plant images sitting next to the page numbers—that.. Read more
NetGalley, Matal Baker

[b]Rating[/b]: 5 out of 5 stars This was a real treat to read. Fantastic pictorial and very informative description on each plant. I believe I will be using this book for my future foraging and gardening activities. I loved the "perks" section, I found that having extra info on plant benefits was very valuable.
NetGalley, Kristina Kalmikova