For every angelic Miss Hazlitt there is an insufferable Miss Wilkins waiting in the wings. Beverley Nichols proudly declares his status as a newcomer to gardening: "The best gardening books should be written by those who still have to search their brains for the honeysuckle's languid Latin name." As unforgettable as the plants in the garden is the cast of visitors and neighbors who invariably turn up at inopportune moments. The secret of this book's success-and its timelessness-is that it does not seek to impress the reader with a wealth of expert knowledge or advice. Ostensibly an account of the creation of a garden in Huntingdonshire in the 1930s, it is really about the underlying emotions and obsessions for which gardening is just a cover story. Down the Garden Path has stood the test of time as one of the world's best-loved and most-quoted gardening books.
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