This reference is for all those professionals, agents, owners, designers and managers concerned with the many aspects of managing historic gardens, parks and design landscapes. The comprehensive scope emphasizes the importance of the principles of management, and the historic, scientific, botanical, horticultural, economic, legal and technical aspects essential for success.
Introduction by Brent Elliott, Royal Horticultural Society; 1. Historic Parks and Gardens in England: A Summary of Their Development; 2. Maintenance and Management Principles Management plans and conservation management, including restoration * Plant environment * Design implications on maintenance * Resources: Staff, Equipment, Standards and Objective; 3. Maintenance and Management Practice Trees including conifers, shrubs including roses, wall, plants, herbaceous plants, bulbs, annuals and biennials * Hedges and screens * Grass management: lawns and meadows * Erosion of habitat * Pools, lakes and water features * Rock gardens * Parterres * Walled gardens * Glasshouses * Container growing; 4. Nature Conservation in Parks and Gardens; 5. Visitor Management; 6. Economic Aspects of Historic Parks and Designed Landscapes; 7. Future Trends; 8. Case Studies; 9. The Historic Landscape and the Law; 10. Bibliography.
John Watkins has been Head of Gardens and Landscape at English Heritage since 1999. He is the author of The Glasshouse Gardener (Conran Octopus, 1993). Thomas Wright has managed historic landscapes for more than forty years. His commissions have included Hampton Court Palace gardens, Chatsworth, Grimsthorpe Castle, Firle Place, Holker Hall, some National Trust gardens and other private estates and gardens in the UK, France, Italy and Austria. He is the author of The Gardens of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, The Gardens of Britain, Large Gardens and Parks: Maintenance Mangagement and Design and Labour Saving Gardening.
'Never before has such a wealth of advice and information been assembled alongside historical perspectives.' John Sales (Acclaimed horticulture teacher) Horticulture Week This [title] may not sound relevant to those who do not occupy stately homes,but the advice on best practice in this terrific book is just what gardeners have been waiting for!.Much of the information, scaled down, is invaluable to ordinary gardeners!At GBP35 it is an expensive book, but it more than earns its price. In it I discovered plenty of things I did not know!.The focus of the book is how to garden like pros, as well as how to save money and time...The advice on best practice in this terrific book is just what gardeners have been waiting for. Daily Telegraph This is the all-singing, all-dancing reference manual for professional gardeners, garden managers and students of gardening! If you only have space or finance for one reference book in your garden office or bait room, I would suggest that it should be this one. Professional Gardener It would be difficult to over-emphasise the value of this book! anyone working in the management of these highly important sites should keep at hand. Well laid out and superbly illustrated, one can read it as one whole work, keep it as a reference volume or just dip in and out of it. Garden Design Journal A good case can be made for asserting that this was the most significant book on historic gardens produced in recent years. Historic Gardens Review