The Management and Maintenance of Historic Parks, Gardens and Landscapes

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Remarkably comprehensive, excellent value - Rated
This well-written book is of wider interest than the title suggests - definitely not a dry academic book, and of interest to garden visitors as well as gardeners & property managers. Amongst *many* other things, it contains a potted history of English gardening, many helpful hints on garden plants, soils and structures, detailed coverage (with some revealing figures) of the costs of a garden, advice on running a visitor attraction, and so on. All this is conveyed through a judicious balance of principle and practice, with many well-chosen pictures (400+). Given its size and full-colour illustration, the book is very reasonably priced. Warmly recommended.

Excellent book on a neglected topic - Rated
Despite the rather unwieldy title this is an excellent in-depth manual.

It looks gorgeous, is very detailed and rich with information, and is easy to navigate. It has three parts, the third of which is a series of ten case studies.

A lot of this book will be relevant to botanic gardens managers, particularly the sections on "Managing historic parks and gardens" and Part Two: "The Living Garden Landscape".

The emphasis however, is very much upon the British scenario with chapters on topics such as "The Legal Framework" which I doubt will have much relevance outside the UK or even for botanic gardens within the UK.

Nevertheless I am sure it would be a very welcome addition to the sparsely inhabited shelf of a botanic garden management bookcase. I guess we just need Frances Lincoln to commission another book like this, specifically for the world's botanic gardens, and the shelf will be complete!