Focus on flowers.
One of the most influential horticulturalists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was William Robinson, the first to promote the idea of a wild garden. He was fed up with the formal Victorian gardens in England and thought that careful trimming of evergreen hedges, topiary, the same bedding plants repeated over and over, and statues were boring. He advocated the use of native parts, hardy perennials, bulbs, ground covers, and a natural style of garden design. His informal cottage style approach quickly became popular, especially with British gardeners who were influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement.
He was a prolific garden writer and was popular with the growing number of middle-class gardeners in England during the late 19th century. His popular book, The Wild Garden was published in 1870 and had beautiful and widely admired illustrations created by Alfred Parsons.
Robinson worked for many years at the Royal Botanic Society's Garden in Regents Park in London. He created many lovely gardens during his career and promoted the use of native British flora and grasses, and his ideas have spread across the Atlantic Ocean and still influence our parks and gardens today.
This is Moya Andrews, and today we focused on William Robinson.
