To mark World Book Day on 7th March 2019, we asked gardening and natural history expert Professor Stefan Buczacki to pick his top five books about gardening and garden design.
Professor Stefan’s recommended gardening books:
Prof Stefan Buczacki is best known for his 12 years as a panelist on Radio 4’s Gardener’s Question Time between 1981 to 1994. He’s also written about 60 of his own non-fiction books, contributed many articles to various papers and magazines and offers a garden design advice service.
1. ‘Tender’ by Nigel Slater
“Gardening and cookery are inextricably linked and most cooks have at least a small garden close at hand. Great chefs like Raymond Blanc may have huge plots but Nigel Slater, the celebrity cook I most admire, has a much more intimate and homely patch and nowhere in his writings are his two passions so beautifully intertwined as in his magnificent two-volume work Tender.”
To find out more or buy a copy, click here.
2. ‘Scotland for Gardeners’ by Kenneth Cox 
“Given its size and its population in relation to England, Scotland seems to have an unfairly large number of fine gardens. In truth, the west coast especially has them in bewildering variety. So bewildering that one really does not know where to start; that is until Kenneth Cox published this book, one of my most valuable and treasured of all gardening guides.”
To find out more or buy a copy, click here.
3. ‘Hardy Heathers’ by Charles Nelson
“It is reassuring to know that the botanical monograph is still alive and well, even if publishers bold enough to publish them are becoming fewer. Charles Nelson’s magnificent and scholarly Hardy Heathers, with its descriptions of every species, its colour photographs and Christabel King’s exquisite paintings, is an absolutely essential work of reference for anyone who loves and admires these wonderful plants.”
To find out more or buy a copy, click here.
4. ‘The Plant Hunters’ by Carolyn Fry 
“Every time I open this book, I marvel in admiration of the Chinese printing house that manufactured it. It does what it says on the cover in telling the story of the plant collectors, their achievements and tribulations; but other books do that. This one is utterly different from anything else and is packed with fold-outs, sleeves containing beautifully printed replicas of historic documents, even replica herbarium sheets.”
To find out more or buy a copy, click here.
5. The Omnipotent Magician: Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown 1716–1783 by Jane Brown
“Jane Brown is a distinguished biographer who has turned her hand to a wide range of worthy folk, including Vita Sackville-West and Lanning Roper. This is the most scholarly and deeply researched of all the biographies I have read of the great and hugely influential landscape designer. I know Jane prefers us not to use the familiar sobriquet ‘Capability’, which was not invented until after his death. Fair enough, but no reason why she should not adopt it herself: Jane ‘Capability’ Brown has a fine ring.”
To find out more or buy a copy, click here.
Find out more about Stefan Buczacki on his website at stefanbuczacki.co.uk.
Get inspired by the top 5 gardening book recommendations of other professionals in the industry here.
The post World Book Day: Stefan Buczacki’s recommended reads appeared first on The English Garden.