A Rage for Rock Gardening: The Story of Reginald Farrer, Gardener, Writer & Plant Collector

by Nicola Shulman

Overview

A hundred years ago there was a pronounced change in the direction of British gardening. The garden was transformed from a plaything for the rich to a democratic exercise, a hobby for the millions. Few figures were more central to and prominent in this transition than Reginald Farrer, whose passion for alpines would put a rockery in the backyards of countless enthusiasts and whose adventures in Tibet and China collecting elusive and exotic specimens, including the wild tree peony, a new buddleaia, and even an entire new genus called Farreria, were the stuff of legends. But Farrer was a strange man, a tortured soul. Tormented by physical disabilities (he had a hare lip, a "pygmy body," and a cleft palate) he developed a personality that was defensive, restless, yet productive and endlessly energetic. Within his realm of horticultural exploration and exploitation, he was a giant, becoming one of the great plant hunters of his age, repeatedly traveling to Japan and Tibet to collect new species and, through the influence of his extraordinary series of books, changing forever the art and practice of Western gardening.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781567922493
Publisher:	David R. Godine, Publisher
Publication date:	11/24/2004
Edition description:	Us REV and Expanded ed.
Pages:	119
Product dimensions:	5.32(w) x 7.74(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Nicola Shulman, Marchioness of Normanby, is a British biographer, former model, aristocrat, and author.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for A Rage for Rock Gardening

"One of the most wickedly enjoyable gardening books of this season is Nicola Shulman’s brief, scintillating portrait of a imperfect genius, Reginald Farrer, in A Rage for Rock Gardening."—The New York Times

"The reader will blink, first with astonishment, then with pleasure at every detail. Shulman has produced an elegant mini-masterpiece."—Antonia Fraser

"A wonderfully concise and shrewd account of an interestingly ambivalent figure & a vivid picture of the world of early 20th century plant-collecting."—Penelope Lively

"As good as biography gets: pithy, funny, touching, never less than captivating."—Vogue

"Written with an eye for foible and the telling detail, this is a magnificent little book, as perfectly suited to the student of human nature as it is to fans gardening and exotic travel."—The Boston Globe

From the Publisher

One of the most wickedly enjoyable gardening books of this season is Nicola Shulman's brief, scintillating portrait of another imperfect genius, Reginald Farrer, in A Rage for Rock Gardening.
— The New York Times

Verlyn Klinkenborg

When it was published in the U.K. in 2002, this slim volume earned considerable praise from both garden writers and literary critics. That's fitting, because while Farrer (1880- 1920) virtually invented rock gardening as it is now practiced and revolutionized garden writing, his ambition was to be a "literary figure." His novels ranged from "entirely mortal" (The House of Shadows) to "dreadful" (Through the Ivory Gate), but represented what he thought of as his higher calling. Journalist Schulman's biography puts Farrer's highly successful horticultural activities in the context of his frustrated grander aspirations. It is a balanced portrait of a brilliant but "touchy, reproachful, extremely demanding, painfully solipsistic" man, told succinctly and tastefully. Farrer's relationship with his rigidly Christian parents was poor and became abysmal when he converted to Buddhism. Letters to his Oxford classmate Aubrey Herbert strongly suggest a homosexual orientation. Schulman presents this information simply and directly; it's relevant but not central to the story. What is central is Farrer's talent for observing, growing, describing, cataloguing and discovering alpine plants. He literally traveled to the ends of the earth to find new ones, braving hardship and danger on expeditions to China, Tibet and, finally, Burma, where he died. With this brief work, Schulman reveals a brilliant, charming and idiosyncratic character. Illus. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly