[American Gardens 03] • American Gardens of the Nineteenth Century · "For Comfort and Affluence"

WRITTEN by a noted authority on historic American gardens, this handsome and scholarly three-volume series explores American gardens and gardening of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. The first two books, originally issued in hardback in 1970 and 1976, are considered classics in the field. They are now available in paperback for the first time. All three volumes are abundantly illustrated and each contains an extensive appendix that lists and describes all the plants commonly cultivated in gardens of the period. They are all Special Selections of the Garden Book Club.

This third and final volume carries the story of American gardening up through the end of the nineteenth century. The book is divided into three sections. "Unfamiliar Territory" discusses the medicinal uses of plants, government-commissioned botanists and other explorers, seed developers and distributors, seed catalogs and instructional publications, the entrance of "ladies" into the gardening world, and the evolution of horticultural societies and shows.

"Laying on of Hands" profiles key horticultural figures such as David Hosack and André Parmentier and reviews landscape theory and the design of large public gardens and parks. "Domestic Comforts" looks at specific gardens such as the one at the Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee, and at the Longfellow House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the use of garden space and of embellishments (walkways, benches, Greek temples), bedding out, suburban gardens, Canadian gardens, and specialty gardens such as herb and Japanese.

Gardeners will love this book. It will also appeal to heritage conservationists and anyone interested in nineteenth-century North American history.