This book relates the intriguing stories of fifty inventions, innovations and discoveries that have transformed our gardening techniques. Here is Christopher Columbus, explorer of the New World, but less celebrated for his introduction of the wigwam frame for climbing plants. London doctor Nathaniel Ward became an innovator by accident in 1829, beginning a craze for indoor gardening with his 'Wardian' terrarium. Several gardening pioneers were entrepreneurs, like John Tradescant who, in 1627, opened the world's first nursery by the Thames at Lambeth. England's first pineapple was successfully grown by experimental gardener Henry Telende using fermenting oak bark to warm the soil; Nathaniel Wallich made his name in 1821 as the adventurous Danish plant finder who introduced the rhododendron into Britain and North America, packed in sugar! Ernest 'Chinese' Wilson braved perilous mountains and devastating avalanches to return to the western world, against all odds, with the beautiful regal lily. From the invention of the trellis, the wheelbarrow and the waterscrew in the ancient world; via secateurs, tree-movers and flame-guns in the Victorian age; to the Gro-Bag and Flymo of modern times, this collection of tales of the intrepid and ingenious will captivate and inspire gardeners everywhere. Book jacket.