Accidental Garden by Richard Mabey

‘Delightful … Mabey is the doyen of UK nature writing’ New Statesman
‘Both instructive and exciting, often ecstatic… Mabey is a great, pioneering nature writer’ Irish Times
‘Our greatest nature writer’ New Scientist

We regard gardens as our personal dominions, where we can create whatever worlds we desire. But they are also occupied by myriads of other organisms, all with their own lives to lead. The conflict between these two power bases, Richard Mabey suggests, is a microcosm of what is happening in the larger world.

Rooted in the daily dramas of his own Norfolk garden, Mabey offers a different scenario, where nature becomes an equal partner, a ‘gardener’ itself. Against a background of disordered seasons he watches his ‘accidental’ garden reorganising itself. Ants sow cowslip seeds in the parched grass. Moorhens take to nesting in trees. A spectacular self-seeded rose springs up in the gravel. The garden becomes a place of cultural and ecological fusion, and perhaps a metaphor for the troubled planet.

This is vintage Mabey – maverick, intensely observed, and written with an unquenchable sense of wonder.

The godfather of British nature writing reflects on the conflict between cultivation and autonomous nature

About the Author: Richard Mabey is one of our greatest nature writers. His books include the bestselling plant bible Flora Britannica, Food for Free, Turned Out Nice Again, Weeds: The Story of Outlaw Plants and Nature Cure. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in Norfolk.

01 May 2025
 

The Accidental Garden: Gardens, Wilderness and the Space In Between by Richard Mabey ISBN 9781805220725