The Brother Gardeners: A Generation of Gentlemen Naturalists and the Birth of an Obsession

Mother Gardener, perhaps

Do you know why William Bligh's tomb is in the National Museum of Garden History, a few steps from Gertrude Jekyl's boots? Do you know how and why "English" gardens differ from "French" gardens? Probably not. Gardening and Botanical History are the nominal subjects of this book, but the heart of it is one of the great adventures of all time, the first voyage of Cook's HMS Endeavour and it's scientific mission(s). It ranks with the Lewis and Clark expedition or those of Ernest Shackleton in and around Antarctica, in the sweep of the story and importance of the results. If you've read "South" by Ernest Shackleton or "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose, you should be prepared for Wulf's presentation of Joseph Banks' around the world quest for scientific knowledge aboard Cook's ship on its way to observe the Transit of Venus, about which Wulf has written another book. Wulf lets the facts speak for themselves and provides many references to source material, much of it online, that will give you hours if not months of adventure of your own. This book is about a more that one huge subject, handled with respect by a very competent scholar. It is about the revolution, if not the invention of gardening, about the invention of Taxonomy, about the seeds of Darwin's studies of evolution, planted by his grandfather. It's about the incredible importance of the Royal Society and some of its Fellows. It's about much more, especially if you are American or English. Any one of these sub-plots has been the subject of many college courses, but this book is definitely not a dry academic text. One of the most important subjects of "The Brother Gardeners" is, indirectly, 18th century American Colonial History. The continuous close relationship between John Bartram and his English "Brothers" when America was about to launch the War of Independence reminds us of how close the colonies were to the English and how badly the English government misread and lost their richest and closest al...