When Beverley Nichols first published "Garden Open Today" in 1963, he was already well known for his "garden adventure" books such as "Down the Garden Path" and "Merry Hall, " whose unforgettable characters still live in the imaginations of present-day gardeners. In "Garden Open Today, " however, Nichols attempted a departure from his previous gardening books; he sought to distill 30 years of practical gardening experience in an entertaining fashion, and perhaps to strike back at critics who whispered that he was not a "real gardener." Our new facsimile edition includes a foreword and plant-name index by Roy C. Dicks.