[Hortusman]

Due to the ongoing political difficulties in Syria I must (temporarily only, I hope) abandon my research for a book about gardens of the Levant. However, a man must have a project, so in the meantime I will be writing about the gardens attached to palaces and houses on the Bosphorus. I would welcome any information from MGS members about any such extant gardens and any literature (in any language) associated with them (I have 'Splendours of the Bosphorus: Houses and Palaces of Istanbul' by Hellier and Venturi, first published in 1993). I will be in Istanbul 18-25 March 2012.

[JTh]

You have not had many answers here so far, David, and I don’t know if this is of any help, but on our trip to Turkey in 2010, we were given a lecture by Professor Adil Güner on The Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanic Garden http://www.ngbb.gen.tr/en/ of which he is the Keeper. I wanted to see it myself on my way back via Istanbul, but unfortunately, I did not manage to do so, next time I will! There are several blogs on the internet describing this park, which is situated in a very unlikely place, surrounded by three motorways, but it sounds as if it is a place worth seeing.