This illustrated book cover the history of gardening from the thorn hedges surrounding prehistoric settlements to the modern fashions of decking and ornamental grasses.

The unfolding story features the lives of ordinary people such as apprentice boys, weeding women and nursery gardeners as well as the aristocrats, plant hunters and influential designers.

Buy this fascinating history book online and find the answers to questions such “Did the Romans have rakes?”, “What did people think of the first potatoes to arrive on Britain’s shores?”

This gardening book reflects Jenny Uglow’s own love of plants and looks not only at flowery meads, grottoes and vistas, parks and allotments, landscapes and ha-has but also plants and gardening related topics. She writes about how housewives used herbs to stop freckles, how Tudors made their curious notes and how the suburbs dug for victory in World War II.

There is also a brief guide to a number of historic or evocative gardens open to the general public.

• 342 pages (including index)