Shulman discusses her book A Rage for Rock Gardening: The Story of Reginald Farrer, Gardener, Writer and Plant Collector. "Half poet, half botanist', as Vita Sackville West described him, he became one of the very greatset in the last great age of plant-hunters, and wrote books of unforgettable method and style. Through their influence, he did for English gardening what half a century later Elizabeth David would do for cooking, and changed it all for ever