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The Wild Garden Or Our Groves and Gardens Made Beautiful by the Naturalisation of Hardy Exotic Plants; Being One Way Onwards from the Dark Ages

By W. (William) Robinson

(3.5 stars) • 10 reviews

Discover how to revolutionize landscapes by releasing hardy plants into semi-wild settings, creating vibrant, low-maintenance gardens that challenge traditional, artificial horticultural styles.

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Released
2014-11-14
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Summary

"The Wild Garden" by W. Robinson is a late 19th-century gardening book championing a shift from formal, high-maintenance gardens to more naturalistic landscapes. Rejecting the popular Victorian trend of using tender tropical plants, Robinson argues for "naturalizing" hardy exotic species alongside native flora. He envisions "wild gardens" where plants thrive with minimal human intervention, creating aesthetically diverse and self-sustaining ecosystems. The book opens by challenging the dominant gardening practices of the era, promoting a vision of beauty rooted in ecological harmony and sustainability, where landscapes flourish through plant diversity rather than meticulous control.

About the Author

William Robinson: was an Irish practical gardener and journalist whose ideas about wild gardening spurred the movement that led to the popularising of the English cottage garden, a parallel to the search for honest simplicity and vernacular style of the British Arts and Crafts movement, and were important in promoting the woodland garden. Robinson is credited as an early practitioner of the mixed herbaceous border of hardy perennial plants, a champion too of the "wild garden", who vanquished the high Victorian pattern garden of planted-out bedding schemes. Robinson's new approach to gardening gained popularity through his magazines and several books—particularly The Wild Garden, illustrated by Alfred Parsons, and The English Flower Garden.

Average Rating
4.0
Aggregate review score sourced from Goodreads
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Total Reviews
10.0k
Total reviews from Goodreads may change