An Economic History of the English Garden by Roderick Floud review – finance and flowers

Adding up the cost of England’s gardens … from Capability Brown to geraniums and neat lawns in the suburbs

“I love visiting other people’s gardens,” admits Roderick Floud. Nothing unusual about that, of course: what’s not to like about strolling around beautifully landscaped lawns and borders? But as well as admiring the flowers, Floud – a professor of economic history – has a keen eye for the investment of time, skill and money needed to create and maintain a garden. He has written a new kind of garden history, one which focuses on the economics of our love affair with water features and colourful flower beds.

Beginning with the restoration of Charles II in the 17th century, Floud’s study ranges across 350 years of English history, from the designers of royal estates who could earn millions of pounds in today’s money to jobbing gardeners mowing lawns in the suburbs. He explores gardening as a major industry, one largely excluded from GDP figures, yet now worth at least £11bn, one which has “changed the face of England not once but many times”.

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