About the Book
The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening (1884–1888) is George Nicholson's four-volume encyclopaedia of horticulture — the standard reference of the great Victorian garden. Nicholson, Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, set out every genus a gardener could grow: its etymology, its natural order, its species with their colours, seasons and native countries, and the culture each requires.
The dictionary's shorthand is part of its charm — fl. for flowers, l. for leaves, h. for height, an asterisk for the species specially worth growing — and its advice runs from the potting bench to the stove house, with the pests and diseases of the garden treated as frankly as its ornaments.
This digital edition presents the complete keyed text of all four volumes, one entry to a page, browsable by kind and A to Z.