KEY SOURCES

BOOKS Unearthed: The History of Bream Flower Show 1865-2015 by Ian Hendy ( Holborn House, 2015) A Little History of British Gardening by Jenny Uglow ( Chatto and Windus, 2004) Shirley Hibberd, The Father of Amateur Gardening by Anne Wilkinson ( Cortex Design, 2012) RESOURCES The Lindley Library The Lindley Library ( rhs.org.uk/ libraries) at the RHS in Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PE has back copies of Shirley Hibberd’s Gardener’s Magazine from 1874 to 1916. The Lindley is open to everyone, Monday to Friday, although only RHS members may borrow books. The British Library The British Library also holds back copies of the magazine (shelf mark P.P.2170) in its Yorkshire store. Allow two to three days for delivery for viewing at the Library in London. The RHS’s The Royal Horticultural Society: A History, Brent Elliott ( Phillimore, 2004) published an overview on amateur gardening societies and their impact on professional gardening in Chapter 8. There are also many individual garden society histories under 061 (4B) in the British Library. NEWSPAPERS Old reports and committee records usually fall victim to the club secretary’s inclination to have a good clear out. The more astute society may have lodged rulebooks, price lists and other ephemera with its local archive services. A more promising line of research is the local press. Provincial newspaper editors dutifully published reports sent in by garden society secretaries.