Wisley Printed Book Collections

Holds a significant collection covering all aspects of practical gardening, including technical subjects such as turf culture, and garden construction.  Fruit and vegetable growing, plant propagation, pests and diseases, landscaping, and selecting plants for particular growing conditions eg shady or dry gardens, are among the areas covered.

Garden history, garden design, and gardening styles in the UK and abroad form another major part of the collection.  Works on the history of garden plants, including plant folklore, herbs and herb gardening are also included.

General works are held on botany, scientific aspects of gardening, organic gardening, natural history, and wildlife gardening.  Also some floras particularly of the UK and Europe, together with a selection of cultivated plant monographs.  The Science Library at Wisley holds the main collection of floras.

Smaller collections on topics related to plants and gardening also feature, for example on plant and garden photography, botanical art, vegetable and fruit cookery, dye plants, and bee-keeping.

A children’s area covers books for all ages on growing plants, insects, wildlife and the weather.  Most children’s books are available for loan.

The RHS at Wisley is the principal centre for horticultural taxonomy - the science of garden plant identification, naming and classifying, which benefits all gardeners.  The library’s Horticultural Science and Taxonomy Collection at Wisley reflects the importance of this discipline to the RHS, and forms a unique collection supporting this work.  The collection is particularly strong on specialist plant monographs, and cultivated plants and floras of the world, particularly the temperate regions.   Wisley’s collection of registers, checklists and nursery catalogues preserves the largely ephemeral literature, which is hard to find elsewhere. The library also has a wide-ranging collection of works related to plant pathology, entomology and soil science in a horticultural context.  The library represents a valuable resource to scientists and researchers, and is open to the public by appointment.

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