Product Description

Monty Don's incredible journey searching for the world's 80 most inspirational gardens.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #618 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-25
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Tim Richardson, GARDENS ILLUSTRATED
'His style is light, smooth and accessible, yet also sensitive, detailed and generally historically reliable... this is a good read with plenty of novelty.'

Synopsis
'If I have learned only one thing from my travels around the world it is that no garden is an island. Context is everything.' Monty Don visits each continent in this landmark series on gardens of the world. We are introduced to the unique floating gardens of the Amazon and the colourful alpine flower meadows of Norway, modest domestic gardens in Havana and Bali, Monet's world-famous Giverny and the Dutch tour-de-force Het Loo, the formal magnificence of Renaissance Italian water gardens, the tropical planting traditions of Thailand, and the intriguing fusion of indigenous and colonial garden cultures in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Each garden is placed in context, horticultural preconceptions are abandoned and Monty is constantly surprised by the unexpected locations where gardens thrive. A vivid account of travel, adventure, beauty and the pursuit of knowledge.

About the Author
Monty Don is the main presenter of BBC-TV's Gardener's World. He is one of the UK's most respected gardeners and gardening writers. He has been gardening correspondent for the Observer since 1994 and is at the forefront of the environmental and organic gardening debate.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
I bought this book after being captivated by the images in the first programme in the TV series. But I was deeply disappointed to find that there are very few photographs of the stunning gardens, and most of these contain Monty! I'm a big fan of Monty but would have preferred to see the gardens without him. The writing is good, but as I bought it (unseen) for the photos I wish I had borrowed it from the library first.

Read it but don't buy it
I bought this a couple of months ago. It is very literate and clear, but contains so many spelling mistakes that I wonder if it was properly proof-read. The illustrations are very amateurish. Worth reading - not worth buying! In other words, GTTL (Go To The Library).

Self Indulgence
I was going to purchase this, but got it from my local library and I'm glad I can put it back on the shelf. The selected gardens are for the most part obvious, although most are very interesting but I find the photos of Monty in each garden extremely egotistical and very offputting.