Dimensions
128 x 198 x 17mm
The Forgotten Father of the Flower Garden.
By the early eighteenth century, botanists were inching towards the shocking truth that plants had male and female organs and reproduced sexually. The first person to realise the practical implications of this was Thomas Fairchild, a London nurseryman, celebrated author of 'The City Gardener'. By transferring the pollen of a sweet william into the pistil of a carnation, he created a new plant - the first man-made hybrid in Europe - which provoked a storm of scientific and religious debate as critics railed against meddling with God's design.
Michael Leapman, a brilliant horticultural writer, has unearthed much fascinating and colourful detail about the life and times of Thomas Fairchild, a troubled, gentle soul whose pioneering work changed the course of horticulture and paved the way for the growth of gardening as a national obsession.
