Published to coincide with a BBC2 series starting in October 1991, this is a successor to the author's The Victorian Kitchen Garden and The Victorian Kitchen. It tells the stories behind flowers which Victorians grew and loved, and with the help of retired head gardener Harry Dodson explains how simple and exotic flowers were cultivated and used.

“A flower is not a flower alone; a thousand thoughts invest it.” Daffodils signal new beginnings, daisies innocence. Lilacs mean the first emotions of love, periwinkles tender recollection. Early Victorians used flowers as a way to express their feelings—love or grief, jealousy or devotion. Now, modern-day romantics are enjoying a resurgence of this bygone custom, and this book will share the historical, literary, and cultural significance of flowers with a whole new generation. With lavish illustrations, a dual dictionary of flora and meanings, and suggestions for creating expressive arrangements, this keepsake is the perfect compendium for everyone who has ever given or received a bouquet.

Picturesque tumbledown cottages, their gardens ablaze with roses, delphiniums, and hollyhocks, inspired a whole generation of Victorian artists. 130 inspired works by painters such as Helen Allingham, Claude Strachan, and David Woodlock, along with forty others, compose a fascinating and splendid historical record of the flowers and features that characterized the Victorian English country garden. "...a cornucopia of entrancing watercolors."--The Field. "As happy a book as you are likely to meet."--Arts Review.

Thirty full-page, realistic images of flowers, birds, butterflies, and other wonders of nature that lie just beyond the doorstep: seasonal gardens, cactus plants, edible flowers, and other lovely samples.

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Behind high redbrick walls at Chilton Foliat in Berkshire lies an extraordinary example of a traditional Victorian kitchen garden. This book traces its recent restoration from a neglected patch of weed-choked ground into a productive and well-ordered plot, cultivated with the use of Victorian tools and techniques and planted with 19th-century varieties of flowers, fruit and vegetables. The garden reflects the characteristics of the era - the inventiveness and interest in science, the constant quest for improvement and the strict social hierarchy.