While it is fascinating just to page through and you can start just about any place and enjoy yourself, it is truly indispensible if you are interested in historical gardens. This is THE bok for anyone trying to recreate a period garden to go with a house style and who wishes to know the proper design layout, plants, materials, colors and even what fruits vegetables were being grown.
It also contains nice, gossipy little tidbits of information about everyday life, when to plant, how to cultivate in the 18th century manner and lots of black and white illustrations from the period. Well footnoted, extensive glossary, lists of plants with latin names given to avoid confusion, just a top-notch piece of work.
All three books in this series are excellent. I found this one very helpful, as at the time it was reissued I was in charge of the [18th century] gardens at Fort Frederick State Park in Western Maryland.