One January morning in 1734, cloth merchant Peter Collinson hurried down to the docks at London’s Custom House to collect cargo just arrived from John Bartram, his new contact in the American colonies. But it was not reels of wool or bales of cotton that awaited him, but plants and seeds.

Over the next forty years, Bartram would send hundreds of American species to England, where Collinson was one of a handful of men who would foster a national obsession and change the gardens of Britain forever, introducing lustrous evergreens, fiery autumn foliage and colourful shrubs. They were men of wealth and taste but also of knowledge and experience like Philip Miller, author of the bestselling Gardeners Dictionary, and the Swede Carl Linnaeus, whose standardised botanical nomenclature popularised botany as a genteel pastime for the middle-classes; and the botanist-adventurer Joseph Banks and his colleague Daniel Solander who both explored the strange flora of Tahiti and Australia on one of the most daring voyage of discovery of modern times, Captain Cook’s Endeavour. 

This is the story of these men – friends, rivals, enemies, united by a passion for plants – whose correspondence, collaborations and squabbles make for a riveting human tale which is set against the backdrop of the emerging empire, the uncharted world beyond and London as the capital of science. From the scent of the exotic blooms in Tahiti and Botany Bay to the gardens at Chelsea and Kew, and from the sounds and colours of the streets of the City to the staggering vistas of the Appalachian mountains, The Brother Gardeners tells the story how Britain became a nation of gardeners.

Where to buy

To buy the book in the UK click here

To buy the book in the US click here

Reviews

‘Splendid new book … Throughout “The Brother Gardeners,” Wulf’s flair for storytelling is combined with scholarship, brio and a charmingly airy style … She has written a delightful book — and you don’t need to be a gardener to enjoy it.’ – New York Times Book Review 

‘As Wulf triumphantly shows, plants and gardens reveal a wider view of the forces that shape society … An antidote to dry garden history; rarely has the story of English plants been told with such vigour, and such fun.’ – The Times Literary Supplement 

‘The best book this year is The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession’ –Independent on Sunday 

‘Wulf’s portrait of the “brothers” … is rounded, generous and exhaustively researched. She is particularly good at showing the links between botany and the wider political life of 18th-century England … she is very adept at telling a good story, and in the history and origins of gardening she has found the perfect vehicle. The Brother Gardeners is an excellent, hugely entertaining and instructive tale, and Wulf tells it well.’ – The Guardian 

‘Andrea Wulf has written a wonderful book, using a clutch of fascinating men to remind us the British Empire was once as much about white pine and Camellia japonica as it was about guns and steel … enthralling story … gripping story … brilliantly readable book.’ – Mail on Sunday 

‘This absorbing and delightful book about 18th-century botanists stands out among histories of plant hunting … It is about friendships, frustrations and rows, as well as about new species. The approach works superbly because Andrea Wulf makes us see her subjects so vividly … Wulf is admirably clear about the botanical discoveries (amplified by a fascinating glossary of plants, detailing their discovery and introduction).’ – Sunday Telegraph 

‘Engrossing history of botanical obsession in England in the 18th century … seamless tale … the author has a good eye for interesting detail and a fine sense of literary economy … a gripping story, told here with grace and aplomb’ – Country Life 

‘Wulf’s absorbing narrative not only makes you gaze at garden plants with something like the fascination of her six botanical protagonists at these alien species from America, Australia and the South Seas, it also shows those actors in a convincing new light.’ – Financial Times 

‘With the deft insight of a seasoned biographer, Wulf illuminates their singular and combined efforts in a dazzling narrative that reveals the personal appreciation and professional animosity that fueled this halcyon period in horticultural history.’ –Booklist

 ‘Wulf, a German-born journalist, wonderfully conveys the allure and cultural importance of the garden … readily accessible book … entertaining account.’ –Publishers Weekly 

‘The Brother Gardeners is beautifully researched and equally well written.’ – American Scientist

‘The Brother Gardeners glows with Wulf’s love of her subject, a love fed by her prodigious research. And her prose is elegant, humorous and accessible to the general reader … rendered with clarity and grace … erudite, pleasurable and handsome book.’ – Richmond Times-Dispatch 

 “A lavishly researched and very funny group biography … Wulf never allows her material to overwhelm a vivid sense of the big picture, which keenly informs her sparkling narrative: a nation in revolution, bursting from a drab, monotonous engagement with the outside world into a creative, explosively variegated, frequently domineering one.” – Bookforum 

“In Wulf’s engaging account, the origin of the English country garden appears as a matter of friendship as much as of flowers” – The New Yorker 

“Fascinating and beautifully researched story” – The Philadelphia Tribune

“‘The Brother Gardeners’ by Andrea Wulf is a beguiling tale … this tale of many surprises” – Free-Lance Star

“Wulf brings these characters and their quests vividly to life in an eminently readable narrative. The book itself is beautifully designed, with more than a score of well-chosen illustrations and 16 pages of color plates. Like a well-kept garden, The Brother Gardeners is a delight.” – Providence Journal

“A garden will never look quite the same after you’ve read this book on the 18th-century British botanists who exploited the colonial system to acquire thousands of previously unknown plant species. … Wulf’s book will be of interest to anyone with a garden, even if it’s on a windowsill.” – Library Journal

“Engrossing new book … The American seeds and plants thrived in the English soil and climate, and a national obsession was born. Origins and ironies aside, we are all the richer for it, and for Wulf’s book, too.” – Hartford Courant

“Well-written … Andrea Wulf brings this formative period of plant history to life” –American Gardener

“History is fascinating when an author is able to write like historian Andrea Wulf” – Muskogee Phoenix

“This is a rarity – an entertaining history of those plant-crazed founding fathers of horticulture, as we practice it today … If I can get sucked into this book during my summer vacation, you’ll definitely enjoy it over the winter” – Philadelphia Inquirer

“The author has produced a fascinating study” – Pacific Horticulture

Best New Book: “one of the most interesting horticultural books I’ve read in a long time” – Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 2010

“Wulf gives us a read that is more like a novel than a ponderous history” –The Commercial Appeal Memphis

‘In her excellent book, The Brother Gardeners, Andrea Wulf tells the story of these men, admirably conveying the excitement and horticultural advancements of the age and bringing everything to life with vivid contemporary detail.’ – House & Garden 

‘A ‘biography’ of the quintessential English garden, taking in Captain Cook, Carl Linnaeus, and the simultaneous rise of the British Empire and flower arranging – a delightful look at horticultural history.’ – Scotland on Sunday 

‘Wulf’s pacy and readable history stands as an admirable corrective to received ideas about the landscape garden, since it emphasises the role of plants as status symbols in garden-making … [The Brother Gardeners is] compelling, well-edited and cleverly structured, it stands … as a valuable addition to the existing small library of paeans to the art and architecture of the landscape garden.’ – Literary Review 

‘Fascinating account of the major figures who drove British horticulture forward. Well-researched, this covers a broad subject authoritatively and does so in a highly readable way.’ – The Garden 

‘We are a nation of gardeners, and what we have now in our gardens is because of the pioneering work of the extraordinarily dedicated men whose stories feature in this excellent book. The author has indeed written a book worth of the subject. She has tracked the story using primary sources, packing the narrative with interesting anecdotes and gardening facts.’ – Oxford Times 

‘Andrea Wulf tells the fascinating story of the British obsession with gardens and plants … an absorbing and important story … Wulf brings alive the personalities and outlook of the great collectors and botanists … an entertaining read.’ – Notes and Records of the Royal Society 

Monty Don’s Best Gardening Books of the Year: ‘Wulf tells the story of the 18th-century passion for plants that transformed British gardens through the lives of the men obsessed with discovering and growing new species. Anyone who’s keen on plants, history and biography will love this book.’ – Daily Mail   

“Vigorous book … powerfully pulled together …Wulf draws the threads of her story compellingly together and lights up an “American connection” in Georgian garden growth as never before” – Robin Lane Fox, Financial Times

Advance Praise 

‘A wondrous telling of the history of the very English love affair with gardens and growing things … I have learned so much from this book.’ – Jon Snow, Channel 4 

‘The Brother Gardeners is a delightful book. It brings the story of 18th-century gardening to life in a remarkably vivid way, and sheds new light on the personality clashes and prejudices which lay at the root of the Georgians’ passion for plants.’ – Adrian Tinniswood

‘Andrea’s wonderful in-depth narrative of The Brother Gardeners provides a vivid horticultural contrast to the stark destitution instigated by the Enclosure Acts of the same period. A fascinating read for all those with an interest in plants, gardens and social history.’ – Steven Poole 

‘The Brother Gardeners were a group of men involved in the 18th century quest for new plants, at a fascinating period in garden history – Andrea Wulf brings their personalities vividly to life in her thoroughly researched and lively account.’ – Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall

‘Immaculately written and researched, this book brings to life the dramas and dangers of eighteenth-century plant collecting. You will never look at the plants in your garden in quite the same way when you know what these intrepid men went through to find them.’ – Catherine Horwood

‘Andrea Wulf captures the spirit of the tenacious men who made Britain the epicentre of horticultural knowledge and expertise in the 18th century. A totally engrossing read.’ – Rosie Atkins, Curator, Chelsea Physic Garden 

‘Andrea always succeeds in breathing life into history – what an incredible account of an amazing century. I will never be able to look at a modern day nursery again in quite the same way! Incredible to think that Linnaeus and Madonna have so much in common, both of their work being banned by the Vatican!’ – Kim Wilde 

‘The Brother Gardeners tells a fascinating and important tale … Andrea Wulf argues, and comprehensively proves, that this was a defining period in the growth of horticulture in Britain and in the availability of plants from around the world … She wears her considerable knowledge lightly’ – Neil Chambers, Executive Director, The Sir Joseph Banks Archive Project