SMITHERS, PETER — Adventures of a Gardener

UK, The Harvill Press, London. 1995. Hardcover with dust jacket, 27cm. Book, obit for Smithers really makes you want to pick up this book, get a glass of red have the day off to give it your full attention - "Had he been so inclined, Peter Smithers could have written several intriguing autobiographical volumes about his career as a politician, diplomat, scholar and wartime intelligence agent. Yet he produced only one, and by calling it Adventures of a Gardener he signalled that his distinguished and eventful public life had always, in his own assessment, taken second place to his lifelong passion for horticulture. For instance, he described in the 1995 book how, during the Second World War, he was thrilled to be assigned to a sensitive post in Central America principally because it "would oblige me to pass through some of the world's richest flora". reviews JIM REYNOLDS, Irish nmes "Smithers is already famous in the horticultural world for his knowledge of magnolias, tree peonies and blies. but the book should make him equally celebrated for his philosophical approach to life and gardening. It is compulsive reading" MARY KEEN, Spectator "His knowledge makes his book one which has to be absorbed by any fellow enthusiast" ROBIN LANE FOX, Financial Times 211pp 1.2 kgs , Excellent/Very Good.