Thoughtful Gardening: Great Plants, Great Gardens, Great Gardeners

by Robin Lane Fox

In Thoughtful Gardening, award-winning historian and Financial Times gardening columnist Robin Lane Fox takes readers on a delightful journey through each season of the gardening year. From fending off vine-weevils to visiting Yves Saint Laurent’s private gardens in Marrakech, Fox imbues each of his musings with grace, sophistication, and charm. Essential reading for anyone planting a new garden or taking stock of one after several years, Thoughtful Gardening offers expert advice and a touching reminder of the power of art and literature to deepen what we see and experience in nature.

Combining a vast understanding of horticulture with witty and stylish storytelling, these vignettes form—season by season—a rich reflection on the lessons, challenges, and joys of life with a green thumb.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Robin Lane Fox (born 1946) is an English historian, currently a Fellow of New College, Oxford and University of Oxford Reader in Ancient History.

Lane Fox was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford.

Since 1977, he has been a tutor in Greek and Roman history, and since 1990 University Reader in Ancient History. He has also taught Greek and Latin literature and early Islamic history, a subject in which he held an Oxford Research Fellowship, and is also New College's Tutor for Oriental Studies.[1] He is a lecturer in Ancient History at Exeter College, Oxford.

He was historical adviser to the film director Oliver Stone for the epic Alexander. His appearance as an extra, in addition to his work as a historical consultant, was publicized at the time of the film's release.

Lane Fox is also a gardening correspondent for the Financial Times.

He is the father of the internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, the founder of Lastminute.com.

They are not related to, and should not be confused with Robin Fox, anthropologist, and his daughter Kate Fox, social anthropologist.

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is a book of essays by an english gardening expert who wrote a gardening column for the financial times. he is conservative, fond of culling badgers and hunting foxes, and brings his politics right into the garden. the book itself was a series of 3 or 4 page essays, each linked to the next by the first paragraph. it was full of discussion of plants by their latin names, so I often had no clue what he was talking about. it was extremely specific to english gardening, with references to the addresses of nurseries where he purchased this or that hybrid. he also likes to tell you, for instance, what number bus you take in florence to get to the gardening he's talking about. he at least is not a global warming denier, but he just takes note of it to discuss what plants might be possible to grow now that weren't before. I kept reading it because I don't like to leave books unfinished, and because I figure I was picking up *something*, even just that rhododendrons are native to china. the author was opinionated and annoying but I suppose he knows what he is talking about. I very much doubt he and I have anything like the same taste.

[Florence Minowa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I regret to say this isn't a fresh review. I read this over ten years ago but even now I still distinctly recall how much I enjoyed reading this book. It was one of the first books on gardening that I picked up and in fact it was because of the way Fox gave so much character to plants and creatures that I developed an interest in gardening. I particularly loved the chapter on the vine-weevil.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on columns that Lane-Fox wrote for the FT, I enjoyed the shortness of the chapters. The author is incredibly opinionated, which can be entertaining, but in places the relevance to gardens is rather tangential. This kind of garden writing is an upper-class pursuit in Britain, and Lane-Fox is no exception.

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'autore chiaramente conosce l'argomento e questo lo porta ad avere un atteggiamento decisamente troppo supponente. Detto questo il libro offre un piacevole excursus attraverso giardini inglesi principalmente e potrebbe essere un bel regalo per chi ama il genere.

[Bernhard Pleschko · Rating 2 out of 5]

not enough about thoughtful gardening (whatever it may be) and quite old style

[Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

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