We hope that this second edition of Science and the Garden will be of interest and value to students of horticulture, professional horticulturists and home gardeners. In preparing it we have completely re-edited all the chapters from the first edition, removing unnecessary material, adding new information and re-ordering or re-writing where appropriate. If, in our thorough editing, we have introduced errors, the fault is ours, not that of the authors. We have also added four new chapters, dealing with matters that we felt were not adequately covered in the first edition, namely Diversity in the Plant World (Chapter 1), Conservation and Sustainable Gardening (Chapter18), Gardens and the Natural World (Chapter 19) and Gardens for Science (Chapter 20).
We are aware of the difficulty of finding an appropriate style and level to cater for a wide readership. We have therefore tried to use straightforward language throughout, but have taken care not to over-simplify or ‘dumb-down' scientific information which we believe to be of fundamental importance to the practice of horticulture.
We thank Blackwell Publishing and the Royal Horticultural Society for commissioning a second edition, Dr Malcolm Vincent, Chief Scientist of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, for his valuable comments on drafts of Chapters 18 and 19, and Mrs Barbara Haynes for her editorial support and advice on content and presentation.
David S. Ingram
(Burton in Lonsdale & Edinburgh)
Daphne Vince-Prue
(Goring-on-Thames)
Peter J. Gregory
(Dundee)
May 2007