❀The Garden Handbook

Old gardens, growing again.

We discover, augment and publish the great gardening books of another age — rose culture and flower gardening, four-volume dictionaries of horticulture, and the great herbals of Gerard and Culpeper — often from rare, out-of-print books, and even unpublished manuscripts.

Plants have not changed; the advice still works. We publish every book whole — beautiful plates included — with our commentary clearly marked, findable and free for every gardener.

2 books live · 15 more coming soon

Did you know?

The 1908 grand tour of great houses runs from the Taj Mahal to Mount Vernon — with the gardens getting equal billing.

— Historic Houses and Their Gardens, 1908

Gerard's Herball (1597) ends with a tree said to fruit live geese — reported as sober botany.

— Gerard's Herball (The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes), 1927 coming soon

Culpeper's herbal assigns every plant to a planet — rosemary belongs to the sun, and your medicine depended on it.

— Culpeper's Complete Herbal and English Physician, 1826 coming soon

We hold four separate antique books devoted purely to growing roses. The Edwardians did not consider this excessive.

— How To Grow Roses coming soon

Victorian gardeners had a four-volume illustrated dictionary just for gardening — and a separate encyclopedia for horticulture.

— The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening (Nicholson) coming soon

In bloom

Coming soon

Coming soonCommercial Rose Culture
Coming soonCulpeper's Complete Herbal and English Physician1826
Coming soonEncyclopedia of Plants
Coming soonFamiliar Garden Flowers (Hulme & Hibberd) · 5 vols
Coming soonFlowers for Every Garden
Coming soonGerard's Herball (The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes)1927
Coming soonHerb Lore1927
Coming soonHow Plants Grow
Coming soonHow To Grow Roses
Coming soonOutdoor Rose Growing
Coming soonPractical Flower Gardening
Coming soonSuccessful Rose Culture
Coming soonThe Complete Garden
Coming soonThe Encyclopedia of Practical Horticulture · 4 vols
Coming soonThe Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening (Nicholson) · 4 vols