The Subtropical Garden; or, beauty of form in the flower garden.

"The Subtropical Garden; or, Beauty of Form in the Flower Garden" by W. Robinson is a gardening guide focused on cultivating subtropical plants, written in the late 19th century. The text promotes the aesthetic value of incorporating larger-leaved and architecturally interesting plants alongside traditional flowering plants, challenging the trend of using color alone in gardens. Robinson emphasizes the importance of thoughtful selection, arrangement, and the beauty found in form, ultimately aiming to enhance the overall appeal of flower gardens through diversity and a connection to nature. At the start of the guide, Robinson lays out the philosophy behind subtropical gardening, highlighting the importance of variety, grace, and the harmonious combination of different plant types. He mentions the limitations of traditional gardening approaches and critiques the common practice of planting in large, monotonous masses. Instead, he advocates for thoughtful design that considers the natural relationships between plants and the stunning effects that can arise from careful selection and placement. Robinson's introduction also underscores that even gardeners in cooler climates can achieve beautiful results by utilizing hardy plants, demonstrating that subtropical gardening is accessible to a broad audience. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

William Robinson: was an Irish practical gardener and journalist whose ideas about wild gardening spurred the movement that led to the popularising of the English cottage garden, a parallel to the search for honest simplicity and vernacular style of the British Arts and Crafts movement, and were important in promoting the woodland garden. Robinson is credited as an early practitioner of the mixed herbaceous border of hardy perennial plants, a champion too of the "wild garden", who vanquished the high Victorian pattern garden of planted-out bedding schemes. Robinson's new approach to gardening gained popularity through his magazines and several books—particularly The Wild Garden, illustrated by Alfred Parsons, and The English Flower Garden.