Scent Magic

Notes from a Gardener

Isabel Bannerman

The Sunday Times Gardening Book of the Year 2019

In Scent Magic, a book which is at once romantic and extremely practical, plantswoman, designer and garden-maker extraordinaire Isabel Bannerman immerses the reader in the luscious smells of the fragrant garden through a warmly written account of her year's gardening; and combines this with an encyclopaedic reference work of the best aromatic plants to grow throughout the seasons. Whether evoking the freshly baked sponge smell emanating from wisteria, describing 'Stanwell Perpetual' as "the kind of rose that would taste of apricot and raspberries swirled together", or championing the magic of the Himalayan cowslip, "scented profoundly and deliciously like the dark vault of a Damascus spice merchant'" the glorious poetry of her descriptions is here joined with personal memories and a lifetime's experience of gardening and plant cultivation.

£30.00

Format Hardback	ISBN 978-1-91025-849-1
Publication Date 03-Oct-2019	Category Lifestyle

The Sunday Times Gardening Book of the Year 2019

The Author

Isabel Bannerman is, in the words of Richard E. Grant, 'one of the world's foremost garden designers'. With her husband, Julian, she has designed gardens for King Charles III, for Lord Rothschild, for John Paul Getty . . . and for any number of other grandees and celebrities. But their favourite gardens are those they have made for themselves, notably at Hanham Court near Bristol, Trematon Castle overlooking Plymouth Sound and Ashington Manor in Somerset. Min Hogg, in World of Interiors, describes Isabel and Julian as 'mavericks in the grand manner, touched by genius'. Isabel's first book, Landscape of Dreams, in which her writing was described by Anna Pavord as 'brilliant . . . vivid, engaged' was The Sunday Times Garden Book of the Year 2016, Scent Magic, ('a dream of a book') was The Sunday Times Garden Book of the Year 2019.