Following on from Husbandry, a book about making gardens with her husband and fellow garden designer, Julian (Mr B.), Isabel Bannerman, author of Scent Magic, returns to the scented realm in a discursive book in which she examines, through her enchanting text and equally winning photographs, the smells of the garden and of life. Because of the many twists of fate that have engulfed us all since the publication of Scent Magic in 2019, Isabel felt an urgent need to return to the sense of smell (so closely conjoined with taste) and to muse more deeply on its value not only in design but to our souls, and our vitality as individuals.
This book is about scented plants and why we might benefit by using scented plants to enhance our gardens, our window boxes, our workplaces and our lives.
Isabel Bannerman is, in the words of Richard E. Grant, one of the worlds foremost garden designers. With her husband, Julian, she has designed gardens for King Charles III, for Lord Rothschild, for John Paul Getty . . . and for any number of other grandees and celebrities. But their favourite gardens are those they have made for themselves, notably at Hanham Court near Bristol, Trematon Castle overlooking Plymouth Sound and Ashington Manor in Somerset. Min Hogg, in World of Interiors, describes Isabel and Julian as mavericks in the grand manner, touched by genius. Isabels first book, Landscape of Dreams, in which her writing was described by Anna Pavord as brilliant . . . vivid, engaged was The Sunday Times Garden Book of the Year 2016, Scent Magic, (a dream of a book) was The Sunday Times Garden Book of the Year 2019.
