author
Reginald Farrer
1880–1920
A brilliant, restless plantsman helped change how gardeners think about alpine landscapes, turning rock gardening into something wilder and more natural. His books and collecting journeys across Asia gave him a lasting place in horticultural history.
1 Audiobook
The Sundered Streams: The History of a Memory That Had No Full Stops
by Reginald Farrer
About the author
Born in London on February 17, 1880, and raised with strong ties to Clapham in North Yorkshire, Reginald Farrer became an English writer, traveller, and plant collector whose name is closely linked with alpine and rock gardening. He is best known for My Rock Garden (1907), a book widely credited with shaping a more natural style of rock gardening in Britain.
Farrer combined a vivid writing style with an adventurous life in the field. He travelled in East and Southeast Asia in search of plants, especially species suited to alpine gardens, and introduced many new plants to British growers. Gardens and institutions such as Kew still note his influence on alpine horticulture and plant collecting.
He died in Burma, now Myanmar, on October 17, 1920, aged only 40. Even with a short life, he left behind books, correspondence, and a reputation for energy, originality, and a deep love of mountain plants.