Garden People – Book review

This is a unique book. Based on fifty years of wonderful photography by British gardening legend Valerie Finnis, it records the people (and the plants) of a vibrant period of horticultural history. Ursula Buchan tells the story while Brent Elliott, Librarian and Archivist at the Royal Horticultural Society, provides crisp biographies of the people. The book was the worthy winner of the 2007 Enthusiasts’ Book of the Year Award from the British Garden Writers’ Guild.

Valerie was one of the great plantspeople of her era and a fine and influential photographer. She knew everyone, everyone made the pilgrimage to her garden: E. B. Anderson, Ken Aslett, Margery Fish, Harold Hillier, Will Ingwersen, Maurice Mason, Cedric Morris, Roald Dahl, Miriam Rothschild, Vita Sackville-West, George Sherriff, Patrick Synge, George Taylor, Graham Stuart Thomas… and so many more. If some of these names are unfamiliar, the book will reveal why they should not be.

I started off reading the elegant and accessible text then the pictures become more seductive… then it was back and forth between words and pictures as a fascinating portrait of post war British horticulture unfolds.

I spoke to Valerie on the ‘phone about the history of her mother’s famous ‘Constance Finnis’ poppies not long before she died. “Ah, Rice…” she said (her usual greeting). “Are you in America?” And then she gave me the proper history of the famous poppies.

I remember visiting her in her garden and having my snapshot taken for her huge leather bound albums in which I, and everyone who visited, was also required – required, mind you, not requested – to record an impression of my visit.

Valerie Finnis was an extraordinary woman who knew and photographed the great gardeners or post war Britain – and the great plants too.

Her friend Ursula Buchan, together with photographer Howard Sooley who worked with Valerie to choose thee pictures, have created an insistently fascinating book which is also an invaluable record of Valerie’s work and times.

Garden People by Ursula Buchan is published by Thames and Hudson.

You can buy Garden People at a discounted price in Britain here.

You can buy Garden People at a discounted price in North America here.