Garden visiting has never been more popular but not many of us understand what we are looking at when strolling through a beautiful garden
- are we looking at an original landscaped sit or a re-creation? Is the planting matter authentic or made up of modern hybrids? Are the steps & terracing in the Italianate style or are they Arts & Crafts? The truth is that most gardens of any age are like a palimpsest: successive generations have changed & influenced the soft & hard fabric of the place over time. Inevitably many of the gardens we wander through today are an amalgam of changing fashions & circumstance. How to Read Gardens provides the reader with all the knowledge he or she needs to tease out the clues that will tell the complete story of a gardens past. From the grandest estate to the smallest suburban plot this book will enliven & inform every visit.