by Andrea Wulf
First published 2008
On a cold January morning in 1734, London cloth merchant Peter Collinson rushes to the Custom House docks. He expects fabric from his American contact John Bartram, but finds something unexpected: boxes of plants and seeds from the New World. This shipment begins a forty-year partnership that will transform British gardens forever. Collinson joins a circle of passionate botanists including Philip Miller, author of the popular Gardeners Dictionary, Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus who creates the modern system for naming plants, and adventurer Joseph Banks who sails with Captain Cook to discover exotic flora in Tahiti and Australia. These men correspond across continents, collaborate on botanical projects, and quarrel over discoveries. Their friendships and rivalries play out against Britain's expanding empire and London's rise as a center of scientific learning. From American mountains to Pacific islands, from Chelsea gardens to Kew, their plant hunting adventures create Britain's gardening obsession.
Genres: history, 20th-century, adventure, gardening, non-fiction, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: friendship, rivalry
Setting: London, America, Tahiti, Australia, Chelsea, Kew
Period: 1734, 18th-century
350 pages · Hardcover · William Heinemann