The Classic Guide to Gardening

Frank J. Scott

• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
• Year: 2016
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781445651712
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

The Victorian age, the age of industrial revolution and expansion of cities, was also the age of an explosion of interest in the practice of gardening. This was not merely a private pastime. For the first time, a concerted effort was made throughout Britain to provide extensive gardens for the public to enjoy. More than merely an aesthetic enterprise, the development of public gardens attempted to promote benevolent behaviour and decrease social unrest. It was during this period that we saw the creation of infamous and elaborate gardens such as the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, and plants were brought from all around the world and housed in gardens such as James Bateman's at Biddulph Grange, Staffordshire. The craze for plant collecting that developed in the nineteenth century catalysed the return to a more formal style of garden to display the variety of plant species from across the Empire. In this illustrative comprehensive tome, Frank J. Scott brought the art of beautifying home gardens to suburban homes. He demonstrates the simple means with which beautiful gardens may be achieved on small grounds and with little cost.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 - Art and Nature
• 2 - Decorative Planting: What Constitutes It?
• 3 - What Kind of Home Grounds Will Best Suit Business Men, and Their Cost
• 4 - Suburban Neighborhoods Compared with Country Places
• 5 - Building Sites and Ground Surfaces
• 6 - Dwellings, Outbuildings, and Fences
• 7 - Neighboring Improvements
• 8 - Materials Used in Decorative Planting
• 9 - Faults to Avoid: Plan Before Planting
• 10 - Walks and Roads
• 11 - Arrangement in Planting
• 12 - Relative Beauty of Lawn, Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers
• 13 - The Lawn
• 14 - Artificial Adaptations of Trees
• 15 - Plans of Residences and Grounds
• 16 - The Renovation of Old Places
• 17 - Flowers and Bedding Plants and their Settings
• 18 - The Philosophy of Deep Drainage and Cultivation in their Relation to the Growth of Trees, and the Successful Culture of those which are Half-hardy: Together with Suggestions for Protecting Young Trees in Winter and Summer