The National Trust's gardens, under new gardens head Sheila Das, are pushing for sustainable planting as a 21st century aesthetic, and this book reflects that shift.
A key passage is on p83 of Bevan's book says plant shopping is changing. "Many are bought on impulse, often in large containers, in full flower. They look so appealing and colourful that they can be very hard to resist, but it's worth being aware that they have quite a big environmental footprint, as they will have taken quite a lot of water, fertiliser and compost to produce, need big plastic pots and may even have been grown abroad. They are often grown in composts containing peat (a precious natural resource that has been extracted from wetlands) and may have been sprayed with a number of chemicals. Many of the plants are quite expensive and don't always establish well, especially in dry weather."
She adds that a vast number are tender or annual plants and will die in winter. Examples are delphiniums, chrysanthemums and ranunculus. To spend money "more wisely" buy shrubs and hardy perennials. Also recommended are lavender, rosemary, agapanthus, cistus, hostas, erigeron and catmint, plus small bulbs, for pots. Bevan recommends online or book research and not to expect to find everything in the garden centre. Buying small and bareroot are top tips.
This approach could mean more rewards for less work and is certainly designed to make you feel better about your gardening.
Self-sufficiency is also a feelgood gardening outcome, but definitely does involve work and no instant success. There's sage advice on what to grow (what you love and what you can't get in shops). No dig, organics, winter cover and companion planting are advised. Earlier, natives, meadows, wilder lawns, GYO plants, compost-making, chemical-free wildlife habitats, hedges and ponds are expected recommendations. Feeding wildlife is recommended too, as is sticking a bell on your cat, all advice given with gentle caveats. Sunny flower borders and colourful patios are what traditional gardeners want and Bevan gives advice on extending the season and the author is refreshing in not just listing dozens of plants to try, preferring to talk about styles and techniques.
Everything in the book is similarly sensible, as well as being nicely designed and illustrated, using lots of National Trust gardens as examples. The book itself is an example of a fairly moderate, light treatise on modernising the traditional garden to one that could not have been entrusted to better hands,
Touchingly, the book is dedicated to Bevan's late partner, the ornithologist Rich Hearn who inspired the writing of the guide and passed away before it was finished.
