In the land of the blue poppies : the collected plant hunting writings of Frank Kingdon Ward

Introduction to the Modern Library Gardening Series / Michael Pollan -- Preface / Jamaica Kincaid -- Introduction / Tom Christopher -- I. The Plant Hunter Defined -- II. Good-bye to Civilization -- III. Trekking -- IV. Bridges -- V. Accommodations -- VI. Mealtime -- VII. Camp Life -- VIII. The Hunt -- IX. Landscape -- X. The Passage of the Seasons -- XI. Encounters -- XII. The Ladies -- XIII. Tibetan Justice -- XIV. Finis.;An anthology of writings by the noted British explorer and plant collector describes his twenty-two expeditions throughout Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia in search of rare and elusive species of plants. A Modern Library Paperback Original During the first years of the twentieth century, the British plant collector and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward went on twenty-four impossibly daring expeditions throughout Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia, in search of rare and elusive species of plants. He was responsible for the discovery of numerous varieties previously unknown in Europe and America, including the legendary Tibetan blue poppy, and the introduction of their seeds into the world’s gardens. Kingdon Ward’s accounts capture all the romance of his wildly adventurous expeditions, whether he was swinging across a bottomless gorge on a cable of twisted bamboo strands or clambering across a rocky scree in fear of an impending avalanche. Drawn from writings out of print for almost seventy-five years, this new collection, edited and introduced by professional horticulturalist and House & Garden columnist Tom Christopher, returns Kingdon Ward to his deserved place in the literature of discovery and the literature of the garden.