Strange Blooms : the Curious Lives and Adventures of the John Tradescants

Description

Now in paperback, this beautifully written and gorgeously produced book describes the remarkable lives and times of the John Tradescants, father and son. In 17th-century Britain, a new breed of "curious" gardeners was pushing at the frontiers of knowledge and new plants were stealing into Europe from East and West. John Tradescant and his son were at the vanguard of this change—as gardeners, as collectors, and above all as exemplars of an age that began in wonder and ended with the dawning of science. Meticulously researched and vividly evoking the drama of their lives, this book takes readers to the edge of an expanding universe, and is a magnificent pleasure for gardeners and non-gardeners alike. Content: Cover Title Page Copyright page Dedication page Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Note on Sources, Transliteration and Dates Introduction: Of Marvels and Monsters 1. Education of a Gardener 2. My Lord Treasurer's Gardener 3. To the Low Countries 4. French Exotics 5. Waterworks and Vines 6. Muck and Mystery 7. Death of a Lord 8. Canterbury Belles 9. A Virginian Adventure 10. A Muscovy Rose 11. Pirates of the Mediterranean 12. Trunks and Treasures 13. A Passion for Strangeness 14. To the Aid of the Huguenots 15. Lambeth Walks 16. Queen's Silk. 17. Tradescant's Orchard18. The Lambeth Ark 19. Family Matters 20. A Physick for the Dying 21. Sweet Virginia 22. Of Cabbages and Kings 23. The Useful Gardener 24. A Snake in Eden 25. A Death by Drowning 26. The Ark Comes to Rest Notes Selected Bibliography Index.