The story behind the basic yet inventively crafted implements that have enabled the human race to cultivate nature's bounty and beauty. While the history of gardens has been exhaustively explored, the story of garden tools has been virtually ignored--until now. Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, as well as with vintage lithographs, engravings, posters, ads, and even decorative plates depicting garden implements, the book follows the gardening cycle, and each chapter features the traditional tools used in that phase of gardening. Today, vintage garden tools are being rediscovered and appreciated anew as much for their ingeniousness as for their sculptural and timeless form. This book casts these humble objects in a whole new light, and anyone who loves to dig a spade into the earth or prune a rosebush will find the book irresistible. --From publisher description.