In this nostalgic portrayal of the old-fashioned English garden, different aspects are revealed season by season - spring flowers, the herbaceous border in summer, autumn dahlias and chrysanthemums, Christmas swags, and holly and ivy; window-boxes and sundials, hammocks and pergolas; ferneries and conservatories. Offering a glimpse of the order of the Victorian kitchen-garden and the profusion of the cottage-garden, the book is illustrated with gardening ephemera and items once familiar to the gardener, such as seed packets, flower-show schedules and prize certificates, catalogues of garden furniture and garden implements, invitations to tennis and garden parties, magazines and books.