Jeffrey oversaw renovations in the Rock Garden and Alpine House at Kew. He now works for Kew's Millennium Seed Bank and is a trustee of the Alpine Garden Society.
Alpines are simply plants that grow above the treeline and are not restricted to being from the Alps, or anywhere else; they are a worldwide type of plant. The plants can withstand high UV and wind, and extreme temperatures and as such are suitable for changing climates. Sempervivum are a good example of an alpine reinvented for modern tastes. As slow growers, these plants suffer from fewer extreme pest problems than faster growing plants do.
The book follows the trend of using artworks, a well as photographs, and is all the better for it.
Alpines are somewhat neglected as a garden plant but have the petite impact to suit smaller plots, pots, balconies and outdoor windowsills. In the 1970s, the rock garden was so fashionable, the walker AW Wainwright campaigned against taking limestone from nature to use in gardens, just as campaigners fight extraction of peat from moorland now.
Jeffrey is an assured guide through the nuts and bolts of what plants where and how to plant it. His top tips are to savour short-lived blooms in spring, shade troughs in summer from full sun, plant early-flowering bulbs such as galanthus in autumn and protect plants that like dry and cold from the British wet winters in an alpine house sand plunge.
Overall, the book is as authoritative as you would expect from a Kew guide with all alpine life forms explained.
