by Monty Don, photography by Derry Moore
BBC Books, £40
ISBN 978-1785947421
In their new book, Monty Don and photographer Derry Moore take us on a guided tour around some of the gardens of Venice.
Reviewer Thomas Rutter is a gardener and freelance garden writer.
Few would consider Venice a horticultural destination of note. Gondolas, of course. But gardens? Surely not. Yet, in Venetian Gardens, Monty Don and Derry Moore show us a different side of the floating city. We are guided by Don and Moore to many horticultural hotspots in Venice, from the tourist-dense to the fiercely secretive. Moore's photography is transportive. Think cobbled courtyards, ochre-coloured walls, washing hung out to dry and wisterias clinging to crumbling walls alongside a canal. And, of course, several images of Don looking longingly at something just off page. What more could a person want?
Don plays horticulturist, historian and tour guide. Great gardens of some of the oldest Venetian families feature, yet sadly many of these premises remain ultra-private, intended only for the pleasure
