Thoughtful Gardening

As the venerated gardening columnist for Britain's Financial Times, acclaimed author, and Garden Master at Oxford University, the acerbic, intuitive, and erudite Fox trots out his own well-honed appreciation for specific cultivars, shares his frustrations with stealthy squirrels and belligerent badgers, and dishes on horticultural divas from Nancy Lancaster to Christopher Lloyd in a seasonal collection of expressive essays in which he travels the world, from his own cozy Cotswold garden to Yves Saint Laurent's opulent Marrakech retreat."

"In Thoughtful Gardening we have this thoughtful gardener's musings--wit and wisdom in equal measure--boiled down into its richest essence, as he squires us, passage by passage, through a gardener's year.... This is that rarest of species that makes us not merely keener gardeners, but wiser human beings. If your aim in life is to live it richly--in thought, in habit, in articulation--then grab the book, fluff the cushions and settle in for some necessary winter's reading. Higher praise, we can't imagine."

"For Lane Fox, flower gardens are human creations informed by art, history, science, politics, and personality. He takes readers on a year-long tour that combines practical guidance, serious reflection, and humorous provocations.... Opinionated, witty, and erudite, this collection is an example of the best garden writing."

"This immense wealth of practical information and insight supports the maxim that sometimes devoted gardeners love reading about gardening almost more than the actual act itself."

"[Thoughtful Gardening] is a quintessential combo-pack of information, brilliant prose, and wonderful morsels of history, botany, and practical experience. It is also a mélange of exceptional humor....engaging travelogue, and memoir. What more could a gardener or reader want?"