This illustrated history of the English garden traces gardens from the medieval monastic garden to the modern plot stocked from the ubiquitous garden centre. It traces the development of garden design, influenced by the varied uses and concepts of the garden through the ages - from the physician's herb garden through the formal theatrical gardens of Tudor and Stuart times, the 18th-century pleasure garden to the Victorian and Edwardian gardener's garden. The growth of science in the garden, the introduction and propagation of exotic plants from abroad and the rise of the nursery industry and media coverage of horticulture are all discussed. Throughout, the author shows how the grand parks and formal gardens of the rich have influenced the ideas and techniques of the more modest gardener and shows how we have gradually become a nation of obsessive gardeners and more recently of weekend observers of other people's gardens.