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.

Author: Jane S. Smith
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 02/23/2010
Pages: 368
Weight: 0.7lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.30w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780143116899
Audience: Young Adult


Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 03/14/2010 pg. 22