The Cottage Garden [Hardcover]

Christopher Lloyd (Author), Richard Bird (Author), Jacqui Hurst (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1990

The cottage garden--a paradise of scented flowers--has a special place in the hearts of gardeners everywhere. This handsome volume traces the development of the cottage garden through Christopher Lloyd's elegant prose and specially commissioned photography, evoking the charm of the garden in all its beautiful variety.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Cottage gardens are popular in North America for their abundant informality, but British gardener Christopher Lloyd reminds us that a working cottage garden isn't all hollyhocks and lamb's ears. In its Old World origins, it served many purposes: as vegetable patch, cutting garden, and a place to sit in the cool of the evening. "It has evolved through common sense, combines need with enjoyment and is entirely unpretentious." The Cottage Garden, by Lloyd and photographer Richard Bird, is an homage to this centuries-old style that allows a multitude of plants to flourish in a small space, with a minimum, if crucial, amount of control exerted by the gardener.

Lloyd's introduction is a brisk examination of the cottage garden tradition, after which he describes a large number of cottage garden plants. Happily for North American gardeners, these include plants that are commonly found outside of Great Britain as well as those that have been in the English cottage garden for centuries. A chapter on cottage garden features addresses hedges, waterways and ponds, garden furnishings, and outbuildings. The book's final two chapters are "Planning the Cottage Garden," with several different layouts emphasizing different types of plants, and "The Working Cottage Garden," which offers details for tending the garden through the seasons and using its produce. Some of these seem rather deliberately quaint, such as the recipes for parsnip wine, mead, and pickled eggs. But overall, Richard Bird's serenely intimate photography and Lloyd's affable, opinionated erudition make The Cottage Garden a book to linger over. It's a pleasant addition to the lush DK Living series, which includes other notable gardening titles, such as Anna Pavord's The New Kitchen Garden and Pippa Greenwood's The New Gardener. --Barrie Trinkle --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc; 1st Prenti edition (August 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131812319
• ISBN-13: 978-0131812314
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #399,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full of Details, January 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Cottage Garden (DK Living) (Paperback)

This book covers many topics related to the traditional English cottage garden without alienating the modern gardener. There are a great many color photographs which include overall garden shots and pictures of individual traditional cottage garden favorites, many of which are easily available in the U.S. There are also many color drawings with various cottage garden designs (aerial views) including the traditional cottage garden with primarily vegetables, a garden with fruits and vegetables and flowers, and flowers only and flowers and vines.

The book is well organized and is both charming and useful. If you are very visual you won't be disappointed with the combination of pictures and drawings.

The end of the book contains information on what garden tasks can and should be completed during the four seasons, and how to accomplish them, including a brief section on pruning. There is also a section included in this part of the book which gives traditional recipes and ideas about how to use the bounty from your garden, including dandelion wine, and mead. This book is a good read and there is plenty to return to again and again.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best True Cottage Gardening Book Around, September 1, 2010

By 

Susan R. Morris "Chiot's Run" (Malvern, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cottage Garden (Dk Living) (Paperback)

I love cottage gardens, real cottage garden, not those perfect ones you see in some books and magazines that claim to be cottage gardens. I've read a lot of books about this topic and I found this to be one of the best, both in content and in photos and drawings. I found myself getting this book from the library so often that I finally bought myself a copy. I'm constantly looking through it when I'm wanting inspiration for my gardens, or when I need something to help get me through a long winter's evening. It's truly a charming book.

If you like cottage gardens and like growing vegetables you'll be delighted by the garden plans and all the information, plant suggestions and photos in this book. The drawings of various cottage garden layouts in the back are really fantastic, as are the photos throughout the book.

After reading through this book, you'll definitely find yourself dreaming of a small cottage surrounded by a riotous mass of herbs and flowers out front with a few hedges and a bountiful vegetable garden out back, and perhaps a few chicken running around.