Gardening Book of the Month October 2011

Directions for the Gardiner and Other Horticultural Advice by John Evelyn 1660-1706 and edited by Maggie Campbell-Culver is this months interesting selection.
Do not expect many photographs as they had not been invented in the 17th Century when this book of diary entries and collected works were first created. Instead expect a learned document of gardening observations from long ago.

John Evelyn Scholar and Author

• John Evely was a noted diarist and contemporary of Samuel Pepys
• He wrote ‘Sylva or a Discourse on Forest Trees’ a significant work on trees and timber management
• Included in ‘Directions for the Gardiner and Other Horticultural Advice’ are 3 works as originally created.

• ‘Kalendarium Hortense’ gives month by month advice on work in the flower and kitchen garden. (A first gardeners tips project!)
• ‘Directions for the Gardiner’ lists plants, tools and gardening terms.
• ‘Acetaria’ deals with salad crops and there preparation for eating.

John Evelyn Gardiner and Gardener

• As a royalist during the Civil War he saw the Prince of Orange’s garden in the Hague and in Paris saw the Tuileries, Luxembourg gardens and ‘Cypress cutt flat and set even as a wall’
• In 1652 he set up home in Sayes Court in Deptford now sadly only a small urban park marks the spot.
• Undoubtedly he was influenced by the hedges of Europe including the Pope’s garden and the Elysium at Villa Borghese
• The main features at Sayes Court in the 17th century included
• a long terrace walk overlooking an elaborate box parterre;
• a large rectangular area planted with many different species of trees, inset with walks and recesses;
• avenues and hedges of ash, elm, and holly; and a long walk.
• large kitchen gardens and a great orchard of three hundred fruit trees;
• In 1660 Evelyn was a member of the group that founded the Royal Society.

Book of The Month

This book contains over 300 pages of detailed work both by John Evelyn and the editor who has stitched it all together into a useful resource to dip in and out of.
John Evelyn works in print including his diary are available from Amazon The Directions for the Gardiner and Other Horticultural Advice can be found on Amazon by clicking on the book cover above.