Of Rhubarb and Roses by Tim Richardson

Of Rhubarb and Roses by Tim Richardson

This book came out in 2013, and the subtitle is The Telegraph Book of the Garden.

Oh, my dears, if you've ever found yourself lost in the labyrinth of gardening magazines or dreaming of cultivating the perfect garden, then Of Rhubarb and Roses is perfect for you.

This exquisite anthology, curated by the esteemed Tim Richardson, is a veritable treasure trove of horticultural wisdom, gossip, and inspiration.

From the towering peaks of the Chelsea Flower Show to the intimate secrets of a cottage garden, this collection offers a delightful journey through British gardening. You'll be captivated by the tales of eccentric gardeners, the passionate debates on plant selection, and the timeless beauty of classic garden designs.

Well, this is such a happy and fun book for gardeners in the summertime.

I love the cover, which shows a gentleman sleeping on a garden bench with a little golden Tabby cat beneath him. There's also a lawnmower and a wheelbarrow full of produce. There are beautiful garden beds. There's a beautiful garden arbor. And then, of course, there's a newspaper of The Daily Telegraph that's laid out on the wheelbarrow, right by the tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, etc.

This compilation book is an anthology of garden essays by garden writers for The Telegraph. So, in this book, you will find fantastic garden essays from Stephen Lacey, Mary Keen, Helen Yemm, Bunny Guinness, Monty Don,  Rosemary Verey, and the like.

Tim wrote about the monumental undertaking of sifting through years of garden essays in the introduction to this book.

I'm not sure quite what I was anticipating, but I know it was not diatribes against melon frappé or the best places to find wild chives on the Lizard peninsula.

I'm not sure, either, that I was quite ready for the fact that a garden column appeared in the newspaper every single day from the late 1950s on.

The result was bulging file after file brought up from The Telegraph's distant archive, each filled to bursting with carefully snipped clippings.

Snow, drought, storm, new plants launched, old plants rediscovered, the latest furor at the Chelsea Show - the garden columnist falls upon everything that makes one year different from the last, for with a cyclical subject such as horticulture there is the ever-present danger of repeating oneself. 

The Telegraph's writers have avoided this for the most part, though I was amused to come across at least four versions of a 'May I introduce you to euphorbias?" piece by the same author. One of the fascinations of gardening is the way the same issues arise year after year while always seeming different, somehow - perhaps because of the vagaries of the seasons.

Page by verdant page, Tim walks us through the history of garden writing at The Telegraph.

He concludes his introduction with these words.

The best writers can achieve this balance between practical advice and lyrical appreciation - in the case of newspapers, all to a strict deadline. 

I suppose this theme of writing to order looms large for me today since the deadline for this introduction is suddenly upon me, and I find myself writing during a weekend away. As it happens, the place is Sissinghurst, and the borrowed desk I am sitting at was Vita's, my view through casement windows that of burnished orange echinacea, crimson salvias, clipped yew, and the beatific, wondering smiles of the visitors gliding by. Their expressions make me think, 

Does anything in life give as much pleasure as a beautiful garden?'

Last night, the white garden at midnight was a revelation. But that is not a subject to be enlarged upon now; I am going to write it up in the next day or two. It will, I hope, become another garden article fit for publication in the pages of The Daily Telegraph.

If you like garden writing and love anthologies, Tim's book is perfect for you.

I think Of Rhubarb and Roses makes a great summer gift for gardeners because this book has already been out for a decade—it came out in 2013—so used copies are readily available on Amazon for a song.

But again, this is a beautiful and fun book.

One reviewer wrote,

[It's] an assorted box of chocolates.

I happily skipped between essays by the likes of Vita Sackville-West, Germaine Greer, and Sir Roy Strong, greedily consuming one after the other in quick succession.

For those with more restraint, this is a book that promises many hours of savoured delights.

This book is 464 pages of funny and well-informed garden writing dating back to the 1950s.

You can get a copy of Of Rhubarb and Roses by Tim Richardson and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $2.