Bücher von Michael Leapman

By the early eighteenth century botanists were inching towards the shocking truth that plants had male and female organs and reproduced sexually. The first person to realize the practical implications of this was London nurseryman and author Thomas Fairchild. By transferring the pollen of a sweet William into the pistil of a carnation, he created a new plant that became known as 'Fairchild's Mule': the first man-made hybrid in Europe. But this primitive form of genetic engineering aroused a scientific and religious furore.Michael Leapman offers fascinating and colourful detail about the life and times of Fairchild, a troubled, gentle soul whose pioneering work changed the course of horticulture and paved the way for the growth of gardening as a cultural obsession.'A beguiling perambulation around the Georgian nursery trade.' Sir Roy Strong, Daily Mail

Writer of The Times Diary, Michael Leapman, became a tenant of an allotment next to Brixton Prison for 35p a year in 1974 when food and energy shortages inspired many people to attempt self-sufficiency. This book tells the story of the plot and the author's first year of cultivating it, written with humour and wit while providing a wealth of information for the would-be urban horticulturalist."e;It is splendid stuff and if your husband is a gardening bore and you want to shut him up for an hour or three, this is the answer.' The Guardian'It makes fine bedside reading, laced with plenty of anecdotes, good gardening information, plus an Idle Gardener's Almanac.' Good Housekeeping