An Economic History of the English Garden

"When we ask historians which area of history they find most difficult, they almost always say economic history. Roderick Floud is an absolutely brilliant historian who makes really quite complex economic history very accessible through something that many people find attractive, the English garden. It’s a phenomenon that begins with the Restoration of Charles II. There were gardens before then—indeed people like Cromwell and his number two, John Lambert, were keen gardeners—but the idea of the great estates opening up is essentially a phenomenon of the late 17th and 18th centuries. Think of St. James’s Park in London, for example. Floud argues that gardens become a catalyst for, and beneficiary of, economic development. This is the time when England is really emerging as a major global power and it’s got real money. The Whig aristocracy is coming through and gardening is an enormous industry. Floud is very good at working out equivalent prices, and gardening is worth around 11 billion pounds at that time. So it’s massive and one point he makes is that it’s one of the earliest and largest manifestations of something that Britain has become very good at, which is the creative industries. These are works of art, essentially, a cultural phenomenon, and Britain is still very good at that—whether it’s film or theatre or art or music. And it’s built on a huge scale. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . In the book there is a lot about Capability Brown, because Roderick uncovered his account book, which was held at Drummond’s Bank. We all know Capability Brown was a hugely influential garden designer, but he was just as brilliant a businessman. He had lots of people working for him and many great clients and Roderick Floud works out that in his prime, over the space of about 30 years, he earned not far off a billion pounds in modern terms. Even in his day, he was earning 20 million pounds a year. It’s just absolutely astonishing amounts of money, which gives you some idea of just how important gardening was to England’s economy. The Germans famously called England ‘das Land ohne Musik’ (the land without music) but they regarded gardening as the English art. There are all kinds of English gardens around the world, think of the English Garden in Munich, because the English mastered gardening on this massive scale in the 18th century. It’s an extraordinary story and Floud is brilliant at making economic history accessible. He’s helped by the fact that he has this tremendous cast. Capability Brown is at the top, but there’s also this rather louche set of people around the Whig aristocracy and Charles II. It’s a terrific book and it really shocks one, just how important gardening was to England and remains so, actually."