While the British are happy to call themselves a nation of gardeners, they rarely have any idea of the science that is happening before their very eyes. How did plants get to be the way they are? Why do they have pretty flowers? How different would things have been if the wrong kind of pollinators had got the upper hand? Why are Latin names so complicated, and why Latin anyway? Why is a weed-free lawn an ecological impossibility? This entertaining book gives the answers to these questions and many more. It shows how a little botanical knowledge can bring not just better results, but also peace of mind, and that losing sleep over such traditional gardening bogeys as weeds, pests, and pruning, is not necessarily the best course. Indeed, if Ken Thompson's message can be summed up in one word, that word is relax.