By Jane Owen, Diarmuid Gavin
240 pages; BBC Books

Trowels at the ready, Britain's passionate gardeners have faced every challenge of the past two centuries, from rapid-fire changes in garden design to the urgent need for vegetable plots in wartime. Gardens Through Time: Celebrate 200 Years of Gardening with the Royal Horticultural Society (BBC), by Jane Owen and Diarmuid Gavin, is a lively illustrated history filled with gossipy stories about the growers, importers, designers, putterers, and pioneers (the charmingly named Edwin Budding invented the lawn mower in 1830) who made gardening the euphoric international pastime—and sometimes thorny business—it is today.

— Cathleen Medwick