| A Rage for Rock Gardening: The Story of Reginald Farrer, Gardener, Writer & Plant Collector Us REV and Expa Edition Contributor(s): Shulman, Nicola (Author) |
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ISBN: 156792249X ISBN-13: 9781567922493 Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher OUR PRICE: $18.00 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: November 2004 Annotation: A hundred years ago there was a pronounced change in the direction of British gardening. The garden was transformed from a plaything for the rich to a democratic exercise, a hobby for the millions. Few figures were more central to and prominent in this transition than eccentric Reginald Farrer, whose passion for alpines would put a rockery in the backyards of countless enthusiasts and whose adventures in Tibet and China collecting elusive and exotic specimens, including the wild tree peony, a new buddleaia, and even an entire new genus called Farreria, were the stuff of legends. But Farrer was a strange man, a tortured soul. Tormented by physical disabilities (he had a hare lip, a "pygmy body," and a cleft palate) he developed a personality to match: defensive, restless, yet productive and endlessly energetic. Although "born to endless night," within his realm of horticultural exploration and exploitation, he was a giant, parlaying his disadvantages into advantages, becoming one of the great plant hunters of his age, repeatedly travelling to Japan and Tibet to collect new species and, through the influence of his extraordinary series of books, changing forever the art and practice of Western gardening. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Gardening - Biography & Autobiography | Environmentalists & Naturalists |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2003056845 |
| Physical Information: 0.7" H x 5" W x 7.6" (0.55 lbs) 119 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Chronological Period - 1900-1919 - Chronological Period - 1920's - Cultural Region - British Isles |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: A hundred years ago there was a pronounced change in the direction of British gardening. The garden was transformed from a plaything for the rich to a democratic exercise, a hobby for the millions. Few figures were more central to and prominent in this transition than Reginald Farrer, whose passion for alpines would put a rockery in the backyards of countless enthusiasts and whose adventures in Tibet and China collecting elusive and exotic specimens, including the wild tree peony, a new buddleaia, and even an entire new genus called Farreria, were the stuff of legends. But Farrer was a strange man, a tortured soul. Tormented by physical disabilities (he had a hare lip, a pygmy body, and a cleft palate) he developed a personality that was defensive, restless, yet productive and endlessly energetic. Within his realm of horticultural exploration and exploitation, he was a giant, becoming one of the great plant hunters of his age, repeatedly traveling to Japan and Tibet to collect new species and, through the influence of his extraordinary series of books, changing forever the art and practice of Western gardening. |