The Armchair Book of Gardens: A Miscellany

by Jane Billinghurst

People have always created gardens. Where survival depended on fruitful crops, gardens were a link to the divine. Desert dwellers planted trees to banish heat and offer respite. Gardens were the oases that sheltered mythical heroes during their travels, and many religions portray the garden as the closest spot to paradise on Earth. Painters, sculptors, poets, and novelists from all parts of the world have celebrated the garden’s beauty, pondered it’s mysteries, and lamented the frustrations it can bring.
This marvellous collection of prose and images explores gardens from many angles, capturing their sensual, spiritual, aesthetic, social, and even political dimensions. Writers as varied as Pliny the Younger, Homer, Ji Chang, the Emperor Jahangir, Boccaccio, A.A. Milne, Colette, Willa Cather, Tom Stoppard, Derek Jarman, Joy Kogawa, W.O. Mitchell, and Jamaica Kincaid evoke the garden in its many incarnations, sometimes lightheartedly, sometimes wittily, sometimes expressing regret or sorrow. Whether the selections portray the garden as a source of sustenance, a showpiece, a place to wrestle down weeds, a bower filled with ghosts, or simply an excuse to spend time in the outdoors, readers will delight in the endless variety of ways humans have carved out a spot for themselves in the natural world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 7, 2011

About the author

Jane Billinghurst is an editor, author, and translator. Her most recent translations include The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben.

Reviews

[Reggia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of gardening notes, quotes and anecdotes! I picked it up to read yesterday not realizing I'd already completed the last selection -- it was truly a sad realization.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3/22/26 My review pertains to the Lyons Press 2011 edition of this title. One of the primary merits of this book is the lovely illustrations. Beyond that, I enjoyed many of the literary selections, particularly those of authors from the 1700s and after. . The book's content is all-inclusive from a historical perspective. Selections from ancient China, the Mughal Empire and others were not appealing. Other readers may have a different opinion.