This is a comprehensive study of the evolution of gardens and the men and women who shaped that evolution: the Tradescants; Charles Bridgeman, William Kent; Sir John Vanburgh; Sir Francis Dashwood; Sir Joseph Paxton; Sir Edwin Lutyens; and Gertrude Jekyll, through to figures of the 20th century such as Thomas Church, Beatrix Farrand and Fletcher Steele in America, and Vita Sackville-West, Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe and Penelope Hobhouse in Britain. There is also an account of the degree of co-operation between British and American gardeners.