Garden tales

Fanatical gardeners, horticultural historians or fans of The Madness of King George will all find something to interest them in Ray Desmond’s Kew: The History of the Royal Botanic Gardens (Harvill, £25, ISBN 1 86046 076 3). Peopled with kings and queens, as well as plant collectors and great botanists, these meticulous gleanings from three centuries of archives document the development of Kew from a princess’s fancy to world famous research centre. This is a book to dip into after the garden’s gates have shut for the night.