The English garden

the long version

"This book traces the shape of the English garden from the small, circular enclosures of our Celtic ancestors to the small, rectangular enclosure of the present day . . . The book also charts the stream of foreign plants from the gentle trickle of mediaeval times to the roaring flood of the nineteenth century . . . The English Garden presents the pursuit of gardening in England as a pastime of pleasure, and shows how the gardens of the day reflected the society, and the architectures, of the time." -- Book jacket.