Whenever I’ve asked about for recommendations of good gardening books, Nichols is invariably mentioned, either for the Merry Hall trilogy or the earlier Down the Garden Path, both semi-fictional chronicles of his gardening efforts at his homes. He is also horribly misguided in his love affair with that most vile plant, the lily (his infatuation with the lilies already growing at the house are part of what leads him to purchase it), but as he is right-thinking in most other gardening matters (except for his passion for displays of tiny cut flowers), he may be forgiven. I have been under the weather this last week with a vicious chest infection which has kept me by the fire. I have been inspired to plant some more flowers for next year, but really I was reminded how fortunate I am in having outside space – and this was the perfect book to read out there.

They should be shut behind high walls, clutching the terrible bundles which they have brought into the world, and when they emerge into society, if they insist on bringing these bundles with them, they should see that they are properly cloaked, muted, sealed up and, above all, dry.Nichols naturally takes on Oldfield too – finding they don’t agree on everything – Oldfield’s silences speaking volumes. Journal of the Scottish Rock Garden Club 19980601 Merry Hall, first published in 1951 and reissued this year by the redoubtable Timber Press, is the very model of gardening insouciance. I have always taken a dim view of the twentieth century, so that I consider this to be a laudable ambition. He’ll have to battle against the elements, the locals (Miss Emily and Our Rose), Oldfield and the ghosts of the previous owners, the Stebbings.

The author's fond and poetic descriptions of the various aspects of his garden, intermingled with his sharp social observations and dry British humor make this a thoroughly enjoyable read. Merry Hall is the first book in a second trilogy, and I fear books two and three may be a lot harder to find. I read one of his books many years ago, borrowed from the library, forget which one, and meant to read more but just never have.His final garden was at Sudbrook Cottage, which serves as the setting for Garden Open Today (1963) and Garden Open Tomorrow (1968). I don’t know whether ‘Our Rose’ actually existed, perhaps she is Violet Stevenson, another flower arranger of the 50’s. However, his writing is so lovely that it really doesn’t matter if you don’t like gardens – you’re just happy to follow his adventures! It’s a Companion Book Club copy, alas without dustjacket – but more of the quality of the book later, first onto the content. The chapter "Flowers and the Woman" Nichols tells the story of how he gets the idea to recreate a favorite painting of flowers in a Grecian urn (by Joseph Nigg) in real life, and finds that he is missing 3 of the flowers he needs to complete it.