William Robinson 1838-1935. Father of the English Flower Garden
John Dixon Hunt reviews a work on an outstanding botanist and horticulturalist.
- William Robinson 1838-1935. Father of the English Flower Garden
Mea Allan. 255 pp. and 37 illustrations and other line drawings. (Faber and Faber, 1982)
William Robinson's is a fascinating life. A largely self-made man, he progressed from carrying water buckets on an Irish country estate to the National Botanical Garden, Dublin, and thence to the Royal Botanic Society's garden in Regent's Park. Here a fine blend of hard work, ambition and extensive research trips on behalf of the Society to gardens throughout England and Scotland established him among the noteworthy young botanists and horticulturalists of his day. He resigned from Regent's Park in 1866 at the age of twenty-eight to devote himself thence forward to a career of journalism, books and travel.
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