Publisher's Synopsis
Take a look around your garden. Did you know that most likely many of those plants do not originate from this country? How did they get here? Which plants have drug-like or aphrodisiac qualities and can be used for medicinal (or perhaps poisonous) purposes? This book is a collection of essays about plants, their histories, origins and peculiarities. Sandy Primrose guides us through the horticultural year with a series of essays on the origins, history and unusual properties of dozens of plants, many of which we find in our gardens. Some have histories dating back thousands of years, many are still used in medicine and others can kill. He explains how plants are catalogued and the necessity for all those Latin names that most of us struggle with. In doing so he pays tribute to those hardy collectors who faced extreme danger on their world-wide expeditions to discover new exotic species which were such favourites in Victorian gardens. The practice continues to this day. With chapter headings entitled Who Was Granny Smith?, Plants For Naughty People, Making Sense of Scents and How To Avoid Being Poisoned By Your Relatives, there is something for everyone! Sandy Primrose brings an insight to botany that is both educational and entertaining, and the fifty short essays make for perfect bedtime reading. A professor of microbiology and keen gardener, he instinctively knows how to retain the interest of seasoned and novice gardeners alike. Planing the marigolds will never be the same again!
