The Green Fuse : Essays in Making Sense of Gardens

by Dale, Peter

Applied ecology

Published 01/05/2025 by REAKTION BOOKS in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 320 pages, 41 illustrations, 19 in colour

Why do interiors of houses mimic nature – the wallpapers and curtains, flowers in vases, a vaporizer in the bathroom? Why do we so often connect our childhoods with gardens? Why has the myth of a lost Eden been so ubiquitous and so formative?The Green Fuse: Essays in Making Sense of Gardens explores our deep-rooted impulses to create gardens, examining them through the lenses of history, religion, nostalgia and myth. It connects gardens with the other arts – painting, music, literature and theatre – and contemplates their intellectual and philosophical significance. Blending lyrical reflections with research, it offers an unusually wide-ranging and thoughtful perspective on gardens and why we make them. It will be ideal for all readers interested in gardening and its cultural implications.