Peter Valder (–2023)

What a lovely book. I purchased it because I was interested in painting a wisteria and they are incredibly complicated to paint because of the number of flowers on each raceme. (I learned that much from Peter Valder's book). Actually, Peter Valder was one of my Botany lecturers in second year uni. And probably one of my all time best lecturers. He managed to make the subject both interesting and understandable....and they even let us design our own experiments to test what happened to water uptake when you cut a stem. (My experiment...to my delight did something unexpected....well, at least initially. But it was the first time that I had felt intellectually challenged to think through something myself. It was quite exhilarating!)
Peter has managed to combine his profound knowledge of Wisterias here with what is a beautiful garden book. He has his own collection of wisterias in the Blue Mountains. Must say, his own garden looks fabulous in the photos. I really enjoyed the combination of botanical knowledge plus the creative aspects of gardening so much that I have been seeking out other books that Valder has written. Just love the book. Five stars from me.… (més)

Many of the garden plants I love originated in China, the magnolia, paeony, camellia, wisteria and flowering peach to name but a few. The author has gathered information on the history, occurence and use of more than 400 of the plants that feature in Chinese gardens. There are colour photographs of every plant featured, and many other illustrations of historical and artistic interest. Read in conjunction with Maggie Keswick's book "The Chinese Garden" you get a full picture of horticulture in China. A fabulous reference book.… (més)