The Green Fuse: Essays in Making Sense of Gardens

by Peter Dale

Overview

Dig deep into our powerful connection with gardens across media and realms of human experience—from music to philosophy, painting to religion.
 
Why do interiors of houses mimic nature—the wallpapers and curtains, flowers in vases, a vaporizer in the bathroom? Why do we so often connect our childhoods with gardens? Why has the myth of a lost Eden been so ubiquitous and so formative? The Green Fuse: Essays in Making Sense of Gardens explores our deep-rooted impulses to create gardens, examining them through the lenses of history, religion, nostalgia, and myth. It connects gardens with the other arts—painting, music, literature, and theater—and contemplates their intellectual and philosophical significance. Blending lyrical reflections with research, The Green Fuse offers an unusually wide-ranging and thoughtful perspective on gardens and why we make them. It will be ideal for all readers interested in gardening and its cultural implications.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781836390275
Publisher:	Reaktion Books, Limited
Publication date:	06/12/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Peter Dale lives in Essex, United Kingdom. A longstanding contributor to Hortus, he has written extensively on literature, music, and gardens, and his previous books include The Irish Garden: A Cultural History and, with Brandon C. Yen, Versed in Living Nature: Wordsworth’s Trees, the latter also published by Reaktion Books.

Table of Contents

Front Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction 1. Mazes and Labyrinths 2. Gardens and Time 3. The Garden as Theatre 4. Interlude: Ilnacullin, County Cork, Ireland 5. The Green Chapel 6. Interlude: St Mary’s Churchyard, Mundon, Essex 7. The Green Study 8. Interlude: Green Thoughts 9. Garden Follies 10. Interlude: Some Favourite Follies 11. The Garden of England 12. Gardens and Painting 13. Interlude: Essex and Suffolk, Giverny and Arles 14. Gardens and Music 15. Walls, Hedges and Fencing with Ourselves 16. Interlude: Two Gardens Enclosed 17. The Garden Party 18. Peter and Pan References Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index

Editorial Reviews

"Pulsating with life and energy, The Green Fuse propels us through glades and mazes, temples, groves, and trees. A declaration of love to gardens of every kind, mythical, physical, familiar, and far-flung, Dale’s book is eye-opening, thought-provoking, and highly informative. The perfect guide to lead you down a garden path."

Fiona Stafford

This fascinating dive into the cultural significance of gardens will feed your mind, spark your imaginations and leave you hungry for more. . . . The references throughout are as earthy as they are highfalutin. It is a book that stretches and feeds the mind. . . . [Dale] has produced an intricate, magical and deeply satisfying book that I will turn to again and again.

Gardens Illustrated

"Imagine being taken by an old friend on a series of garden walks: an extended and endlessly fascinating conversation about nature, literature, music, art, religion; about history, power, and money; about the world as it is and as we would like it to be. Dale brings to the conversation a lifetime of accumulated wisdom and knowledge—it is erudite, witty, earthy, original, and exacting."

Laurie Bristow

"In The Green Fuse, Dale poses the question of what gardens mean to us, then answers that question in brilliant and engaging ways. Organized around themes such as mazes and labyrinths, garden follies and music in the garden, with a series of remarkable interludes that transport the reader to gardens the author has visited and loved, this book offers a wealth of insight from an experienced gardener and gifted student of the literature of gardens from ancient times to the present day. Richly illustrated from an array of sources, including the author’s own photo archive, this book will delight both practical gardeners and readers curious about the history, culture and aesthetics of the garden."

Judith W. Page