Review: The Grove, by Ben Dark

Recent times have seen a renewed interest in urban nature, as can be witnessed in the work of amateur botanists, identifying wildflowers and chalking their names on pavements.
In The Grove the award-winning writer and head gardener, Ben Dark, reveals the remarkable secrets of 20 commonly found cultivated plants – including the rose, buddleja and the tulip – observed in the front gardens of a typical London street on daily walks over the course of a year. We discover how each species found its way into our gardens, the cast of characters who played their part in its story and what each one tells us about our national obsession with gardening and the urge to cultivate our own patch of nature.

‘Every species in this book was seen from one pavement over twelve months and there is little here that could not be found on any road in any town, but they recount stories of such weirdness, drama, passion and humour that, once discovered, familiar neighbourhoods will be changed forever.’

The Grove is about so much more than a single street, or indeed the plants found in its 19 ½ front gardens. It’s a glorious piece of urban nature writing and a skilful blend of horticultural history, personal narrative and an exploration of why gardens and gardening matter.

My Review

Thanks to the author and publisher for my copy of this book, and to Anne, at Random Things Tours, for organising this tour.

I like gardening. I don’t do as much as I used to and my front garden isn’t as interesting as some of the ones in Grove Park. Really, it’s just a place to store the wheelie bins. There are two large stumps, from two conifers that took up all the space, light and water until they were cut down last year. There’s a flowering cherry that got cut down at the same time, but it regrew this year and now I keep having to cut the branches back to keep it from going wild over the wall. There’s a buddleia growing out of the wall next to the cherry. There’s an elder that I keep cutting back. The borders have a few spring bulbs in them, and I’ve tried sowing ‘wild’ seeds in them but the weeds have overwhelmed most of them, or my attempts with the hoe have cut them down. I’m not a good gardener.

I enjoyed reading this book, it reminded me of why I studied horticulture for two years (part-time) after university. I like plants. They’re fascinating and come in endless variety. Ben Dark is a very good garden writer; his passion for plants and love for the street he explores is obvious. His writing reminded me of my love for plants. I ordered a purple clematis, Weigelia ‘Tower of Flowers’, and a pyracantha for the front garden in a fit of planting excitement. Be warned, you will want to redo your garden when you read this book!

I enjoyed the mix of history, natural history and social history, as well as gardening and a deep love of plants in this book. It is just the thing for an autumn evening.

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Author Bio

Ben Dark is a head gardener, award-winning broadcaster and landscape historian working at the top of British horticulture. He’s been described as ‘the millennial Monty’ by Gardeners’ World Magazine and ‘the future of horticulture’ by Horticulture Week.
He graduated with a degree in History from Bristol University and went on to study Horticulture at Capel Manor College, before completing his education with a traineeship at the Garden Museum and an MA in Garden and Landscape History at the University of London’s Institute of Historical Research. As a gardener he has worked for embassies, cemeteries, heritage bodies and oligarchs.

He has organized a private flower show for the Royal Family and helped to build gold-medal winning gardens on the main avenue at the Chelsea Flower Show. As the creator and host of the award-winning Garden Log Podcast he frequently speaks to gardening groups and industry events. Ben has written about plants for the Telegraph and has been featured in the Independent, Gardens Illustrated and the Financial Times.