John D. Sedding (1838–91) was an English church architect and an influential figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. Having worked in Penzance and Bristol, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1874 and set up a practice in London, eventually becoming a neighbour of William Morris. His designs included new churches such as Holy Trinity in Sloane Street (1888–90), Holy Redeemer in Clerkenwell (1887–95), and All Saints, Falmouth (1887–90), as well as restoration projects and decorative work. In 1888 he moved to Kent, and developed his interests in gardening and garden design. This book, completed in 1890 and published posthumously in 1891, sets out Sedding's vision for the landscaped garden. It helped to revive garden features such as terraces, covered walkways and topiary, and inspired generations of garden designers, particularly in the Arts and Crafts movement.
Henry Field (1755–1837) was a British apothecary and member of the Society of Apothecaries of London. Besides serving in various administrative capacities for the Society, as well as for the London Annuity Society (founded by his father), he was nominated in 1831 as one of the medical officers for the City of London board of health, charged with taking precautions against an outbreak of cholera in the city. A lecturer and regular contributor to medical journals, Field is also the author of this history of the Chelsea Physic Garden, first published in 1820. The present reissue, published in 1878, was revised and extended by Robert Hunter Semple (1815–91). The garden was originally created by the Society as a professional resource in 1673 and the book covers its development up to 1878, and also includes a ground plan of the garden in that year.
In this new comedy of sex and politics, an anxious group of relations and dependants struggle for supremacy in a garden in the north of England, where Toby, a sprightly 91-year-old, wants to keep youn
