The Journal of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens
It seems appropriate that the decision of Council to adopt ‘Plant Heritage’ as the umbrella title for our organisation should coincide with the publication of Jyll Bradley’s Mr Roscoe’s Garden. For this is the story of Liverpool’s Botanic heritage beginning with the garden’s foundation. In 1803 by Mr Roscoe and his fellow ‘Proprietors’. In time the encroaching city necessitated a removal to another site and in 1843, faced with financial problems, the garden was sold to the Corporation of Liverpool and thus became available for the unrestricted access of all its citizens. The story continued through the twentieth century when wars and politics led the Collections to fall on evil days and yet, despite all, remain intact.
Jyll Bradley approaches her subject with great sensitivity and has made her own the cause of those both living and dead whose portraits appear in these pages. Their devotion to the Collections over the years serves to remind us, that, thanks to their efforts of conservation, Liverpool’s Botanical Collections will live on and hopefully have a bright future.
This beautifully produced book opens with a series of plates which are a tribute to Ms Bradley’s photographic skill. There follows an extensive essay in which she traces the history of the Botanic Collections and the personalities involved. She feels at liberty to digress from the main story to visit the source of the orchids for which Liverpool was world famous and to give us an insight into her own horticultural philosophy.
All in all this is a delightful and informative book.