Heligan: Fruit, Flowers and Herbs

Philip McMil­lan Browse

Heligan: Fruit, Flowers and Herbs cel­eb­rates the abund­ance of the award-​​winning pro­duct­ive gar­dens at the Lost Gar­dens of Heligan. With derel­ict struc­tures restored to work­ing order, the range of tra­di­tional crops now cul­tiv­ated and har­ves­ted by hand is begin­ning to reflect the out­put of the gar­dens in their late Vic­torian heyday.

This book tells the stor­ies of recon­struc­tion behind increas­ingly well-​​known fea­tures – the beau­ti­ful apple arches in the Veget­able Garden, the unique pine­apple pit in the Melon Yard and the his­tor­ic­ally sig­ni­fic­ant Pax­ton House in the Flower Garden. It con­veys the cent­ral value – and char­ac­ter – of a com­mit­ted and hard-​​working garden team, whose expert­ise increases as the sea­sons pass. Meet­ing a broad range of hor­ti­cul­tural chal­lenges, they nur­ture crops to excep­tional beauty, scent and fla­vour – from the del­ic­ate early nar­cissi and jewel-​​like peach blos­som (hand-​​pollinated to secure trugs of per­fect, suc­cu­lent fruits in sea­son), to the massive bor­ders of tall, crazy, col­our­ful antir­rhin­ums, which delight vis­it­ors at the height of Sum­mer; from unar­gu­ably the best-​​flavoured Royal Sov­er­eign straw­ber­ries and suc­cu­lent mel­ons cradled to ripe­ness in their hand-​​knotted nets, to the last har­vest home – anemones for Christmas.

Heligan: Fruit, Flowers and Herbs is a mine of prac­tical inform­a­tion as well as a visual feast. Together with its com­pan­ion volume, The Heligan Veget­able Bible, it provides a com­pre­hens­ive record of vari­et­ies grown at Heligan, includ­ing sup­pli­ers, and is the product of a dec­ade of rich endeav­our by many of the staff at ‘The Nation’s Favour­ite Garden’ (BBC1 TV Garden­ers’ World).

You can use Google Book Search to look inside this book here.

Philip McMil­lan Browse is a hor­ti­cul­tural con­sult­ant, and has been Dir­ector of the Saratoga Hor­ti­cul­tural Found­a­tion in Cali­for­nia, and Dir­ector of the Royal Hor­ti­cul­tural Society’s Garden at Wis­ley. He was the first Hor­ti­cul­tural Dir­ector of the Lost Gar­dens of Heligan, and is one of the ori­gin­at­ors of the Eden Pro­ject in Corn­wall. His pub­lic­a­tions include Plant Propaga­tion (1979), and Palms for Cooler Cli­mates (1993). He is co-​​author of The Heligan Veget­able Bible (2000); editor of Heligan Sur­viv­ors (Alison Hodge, 2007), and Gen­eral Editor of Garden­ing on the Edge: Draw­ing on the Corn­wall Exper­i­ence.

• Fore­word by Peter Thoday
• Intro­duc­tion by Candy Smit
• 1 The Stage
• 2 The Cast
• 3 Soft Fruits
• 4 Stone Fruits
• 5 Pome Fruits
• 6 The Peach House and its Cropping
• 7 Grapes and the Pax­ton House
• 8 Sub-​​tropical Fruits
• 9 Annu­als and Sweet Peas
• 10 Bien­ni­als
• 11 Per­en­ni­als
• 12 Bulbous Plants
• 13 Rhu­barb
• 14 Herbs
• 15 A Mis­cel­lany of Vegetables-​​cum-​​Fruits
• Appendix 1: Bibliography
• Appendix 2: Suppliers
• Acknow­ledge­ments
• Pic­ture Acknowledgements

ISBN: 0906720400
1st edi­tion
Paper­back with flaps
240 pages
250 pho­to­graphs
Full col­our through­out
246 x 189mm
31.05.05
£14.95

Heligan: Fruit, Flowers and Herbs was chosen as Book of the Week by The Sunday Tele­graph Garden Note­book on 12 June 2005: ‘it explores the use of ori­ginal seed vari­et­ies, as well as the old build­ings, kit­chen garden, melon yard and cut-​​flower areas.’

‘It is full of pro­fes­sional advice and prac­tical inform­a­tion on garden­ing … for any­one who has seen Heligan through all its sea­sons and wants to recre­ate just some of its won­ders, it is a super­lat­ive ref­er­ence book..
‘… it’s an abso­lute little gem … it grabs your interest … makes you want to go out and try some­thing you haven’t tried before.’ (The Gardener, June 2005)

‘And what a book it is. Sump­tu­ously illus­trated, it makes a com­pan­ion to The Heligan Veget­able Bible and unravels for the reader the abund­ance of the pro­duct­ive gar­dens’ (West­ern Morn­ing News, 28.05.05)

‘A must for all green fin­gers.’ (Corn­wall Today, July 2005)

‘amaz­ing pho­to­graphs’ (Dominic Cole, Land Use Con­sult­ants, May 2005)

‘For lov­ers of Heligan, for fruit and veget­able grow­ers every­where, for garden his­tor­i­ans and ordin­ary garden­ers, this is a book that will enthral and entrance’ (The Book Pl@ce, June 2005)

‘Whether you are inter­ested in garden his­tory or want to learn more about grow­ing meth­ods and plants, this book is for you. … With abund­ant pho­tos of Heligan, and the people who work there, this book is a fas­cin­at­ing read.’ (Gar­dens Monthly, August 2005)

‘this beau­ti­fully illus­trated book … is an enjoy­able read, being a sort of “hybrid” between the story of how the gar­dens were brought back from derel­ic­tion, and some good solid garden­ing advice. …
‘What gives the book its own unique fla­vour is that the inform­a­tion is set within the con­text of how dif­fer­ent crops were grown in the late Vic­torian era.’ (Kit­chen Garden, Decem­ber 2005)

‘Candy Smit, in her enjoy­able Intro­duc­tion, pays trib­ute to the “self-​​effacing” McMil­lan Browse and his vital con­tri­bu­tion to the garden­ing of Heligan; this book … splen­did and elo­quent testi­mony to that con­tri­bu­tion’ (Eden Pro­ject Friends Magazine, Autumn 2005, no. 20)

‘packed with inform­a­tion and pho­to­graphs, this is a “must” for all with green fin­gers.’ (The Cornish­man, 01.12.05)

‘There is such a wealth of inform­a­tion and advice about grow­ing almost any­thing under the sun. It is a book every garden­ing enthu­si­ast will turn to time and time again. For advice on grow­ing cit­rus fruits to improv­ing your herb­aceous bor­der, look no fur­ther than this volume.
‘… Don’t be without this book: you will not regret your invest­ment!’ (Old Corn­wall, vol. XIII, no. 6, Spring 2006)

‘a mine of prac­tical inform­a­tion’ (The Cornish Garden, no. 49, 2006)

‘The fruit sec­tion will appeal very much to garden­ers … who have an interest in vines and trees that fruit, and the more exotic pine­apple sec­tion was a gem. The flower and bulb pages cover flowers for the eye and for cut­ting .… The herb sec­tion could inspire the non-​​herb grower to give them a try …
‘Heligan: Fruit, Flowers and Herbs is a well-​​presented book: a his­tor­ical record and a prac­tical guide … a source of ref­er­ence and relax­a­tion over the years.’ (Corn­wall Gar­dens Trust Journal, 2006)

Heligan: Fruit, Flowers and Herbs was awar­ded First Place in its class in the 2006 Holyer an Gof Awards for the best Cornish pub­lic­a­tions of 2005.

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