The Garden of Invention

The wide-ranging and delightful history of celebrated plant breeder Luther Burbank and the business of farm and garden in early twentieth- century America

At no other time in history has there been more curiosity or concern about the food we eat - and genetically modified foods, in particular, have become both pervasive and suspect. A century ago, however, Luther Burbank's blight-resistant potatoes, white blackberries, and plumcots - a plum-apricot hybrid - were celebrated as triumphs in the best tradition of American ingenuity and perseverance.

In his experimental grounds in Santa Rosa, California, Burbank bred and cross-bred edible and ornamental plants - for both home gardens and commercial farms - until they were bigger, hardier, more beautiful, and more productive than ever before. A fascinating portrait of an American original, The Garden of Invention is also a colorful and engrossing tale of the intersection of gardening, science and business in the years between the Civil War and the Great Depression.

Softcover, 354 pages, b&w illustrations, 5.25 x 8"