The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs

"Yes, I use it all the time, alongside other plant catalogues like David Austin’s Roses . I find it very useful from a technical point of view. It tells you quite a lot about the trees and shrubs. First of all it gives you a brief idea of botany, so you know what a pennate leaf is or something like that. It also teaches you where it comes from and who found it. Yes. If you are involved in plants you are endlessly making notes as you go around. I usually make my notes and then have a look and read up on them in Hilliers. Whenever I go and look at a garden, I always have a Hillier Manual with me."

"After that, I became completely passionate about plants. It started with shrubs and trees. I carried around a reference book, The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs – and read it in bed at night of course – and I had a notebook to write down every single plant I came across. Then when I saw it again I’d remember it. It was a sort of game I had to play. I had to know. It also showed people you were serious and once other gardeners know that, they’re immensely generous with their time and their knowledge. I’ve still got my 1972 edition and although I’ve got two other copies, there are so many notes in my first edition that I’ve had to have it rebound. It’s a constant companion. Yes, we moved here in the 60s and at first, I was restoring the garden as it had been in the early 20th century. But after a visit to Zennor in Cornwall, I wanted to try and grow some of the things I’d seen there. There’s a microclimate at Hadspen which lends itself to the more tender plants and it’s been a great success."