Gebundene Ausgabe - 211 Seiten - Harvill Press
Erscheinungsdatum: 1. Mai 1996
ISBN: 1860460593
From Booklist
Sir Peter Smithers has combined a career in gardening with one in politics, having been honored for his contributions to horticulture and to garden photography while serving in Parliament. He has designed four distinguished gardens, including
Vico Moroote in Switzerland, which contains more than 10,000 species and varieties of plants. Smithers reflects on his years at Oxford and on his service in naval intelligence and in diplomatic posts in Washington, Mexico, Central America, England, France, and Switzerland. This is a remarkable work, part autobiography and part garden book. Smithers is as engaging in describing his role in naval intelligence in Washington on the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor as he is in explaining the behavior of wasps in a flower garden. Sixty magnificent color photographs by the author enhance the book. George Cohen
From Library Journal
Why the Royal Horticultural Society asked career politician Smithers to write his gardening memoirs becomes immediately apparent as one reads this account of his experiences in British Naval Intelligence in World War II, including his friendship with Ian Fleming; his own gardens; and gardens he has observed in England, Mexico, Central America and Switzerland?wherever his career took him. His almost stereotypical life in a wealthy, conservative British family gave him gardening opportunities only dreamed of by most of us, e.g., creating a garden in the shadow of Winchester Cathedral or on the slopes above Lake Lugano. Statements such as "It was in January 1973 that we were in Chiangmai in the far north of Thailand with an introduction to Ruang and Buppan Nimannahaeminda" add to the allure of what seems almost a fairy tale. But the reader is always kept informed as well as entertained with detailed instructions on specific topics such as tree peonies and lilies. His "principles for my garden" also ground us in reality. The first one is "It shall be a source of pleasure to the owner and his friends, not a burden and an anxiety." This book is always a pleasure and never a burden. For academic and larger public library gardening collections.?Daniel Starr, Museum of Modern Art Lib., New York
Botanical garden
Sir Peter Smithers
Adhikara Art Gallery
updated
02.02.23