The Amateur's Flower Garden
A Handy Guide to the Formation and Management of the Flower Garden and the Cultivation of Garden Flowers
Cambridge Library Collection - Botany and Horticulture Series

One of the most popular and successful gardening writers of the Victorian era, Shirley Hibberd (1825?90) was editor of three bestselling gardening magazines. He was highly influential - one of the first to highlight issues such as environmental conservation, water recycling and cruelty to animals - and he helped to establish what is now the vast consumer industry of amateur gardening. First published in 1871, this is one of many books he wrote on the subject, intended as a 'handy guide' for the creation of attractive flower gardens. In it Hibberd offers advice on such topics as bedding plants, border flowers, rockeries, and annual and biennial plants. He also presents methods for managing various types of garden, such as subtropical, alpine and rose gardens. Highly detailed and extensively illustrated, this book remains useful and relevant to both amateur enthusiasts and seasoned horticulturists.

Introduction; 1. Forming the flower garden; 2. The parterre; 3. The bedding system and the plants required for it; 4. Cultivation of bedding plants; 5. A selection of bedding plants; 6. Hardy border flowers; 7. A selection of hardy herbaceous plants; 8. Tender border flowers; 9. Hardy annuals and biennials; 10. The rose garden; 11. The American garden; 12. The subtropical garden; 13. The perpetual flower garden; 14. The rockery and alpine garden; 15. Flowers for winter bouquets; 16. The making and management of the lawn; 17. Garden vermin; 18. Additional selections; 19. Reminders of monthly work; Index.