While I was on holidays last September, I posted a three part gardening reading list (see Part I, Part II, and Part III). At the time, I asked for readers’ recommendations and promised to compile them into a fourth and final post. I very promptly started on that post but one thing led to another…and here it finally is. In January. Which, really, is when I most want to read about gardens so let’s just pretend I cleverly planned it that way and this is really a product of my genius, not my absentmindedness.
Thank you very much to everyone who responded to my initial posts with their recommendations. You all had wonderful suggestions and going through them again this week has only made me more determined to track these books down.
George Forrest, Plant Hunter by Brenda McLain
George Forest was a professional plant collector in the heyday of the British Empire. Risking his safety and health, he discovered hundreds of new species, introduced many plants to our gardens, and became one of the most outstanding plant collectors in the Sino-Himalaya. This book tells of Forrest’s adventures and his legendary escape from death at the hands of warring Lamas. It describes the impact of his plant discoveries and introductions and his competitiveness and rivalry with other plant hunters, Reginald Farrer, Frank Kingdon Ward and Joseph Rock.
Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katharine S. White
Whether White is discussing her favorite garden catalogs, her disdain for oversized flower hybrids, or the long rich history of gardening, she never fails to delight readers with her humor, lively criticism, and beautiful prose. But to think of Katharine White simply as a gardener, cautioned E. B. White in his introduction to the book, would be like insisting that Ben Franklin was simply a printer. Katharine White had vast and varied interests in addition to gardening and she brought them all to bear in the writing of these remarkable essays.
The Morville Hours by Katherine Swift
This is a book about time and the garden: all gardens, but also a particular one: that of the Dower House at Morville, where the author arrived in 1988 to make a new garden of her own.
Katherine Swift takes the reader on a journey through time, back to the forces which shaped the garden, linking the history of those who lived in the same Shropshire house and tended the same red soil with the stories of those who live and work there today. It is an account which spans thousands of years. But is also the story of one life: of relationships tested to breaking point, of despair and loss as well as joy and achievement. It is a journey through the seasons, but also a journey of self-exploration. It is a book about finding one’s place in the world and putting down roots.
The Laskett: The Story of a Garden by Sir Roy Strong
This is the story of a garden. It is also the portrait of a marriage expressed through the vision and mystery of creating a garden. Neither the author, Roy Strong, nor his wife, designer Julia Trevelyan Oman, had foreseen this when they eloped and married in 1971. Over thirty years on, they find themselves surrounded by the largest formal garden created in Britain since the war, increasingly recognized as one of the most important of the second half of the 20th century. And yet it was done not only with little money and less labor, but quite unconsciously. It is not, however, so much the horticultural triumph that will grip the reader as what this garden on the Welsh Borders in Herefordshire has come to mean in the lives of its creators. The Laskett is the story of a great love affair, a portrait of a marriage, a haunting and human tale of a garden as the domain of ghosts and as the habitat of memory. No one who reads this remarkable book will put it down unmoved.
The 3,000 Mile Garden by Roger Phillips and Leslie Land
Two professional gardeners, one British, the other American, having met at a New Hampshire “mushroom foray,” continue to share their gardening adventures in this delightful collection of their letters.
The Invisible Garden by Dorothy Sucher
A longtime city dweller and expert storyteller takes a fresh look at gardening in Vermont, tapping the connection between the mysteries of the earth and those of the human spirit.
Two Gardeners: Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence – A Friendship in Letters edited by Emily Herring Wilson
A legendary editor at The New Yorker during its first thirty-four years, Katharine S. White was also a great garden enthusiast. In March 1958 she began publishing her popular column, “Onward and Upward in the Garden.” Her first column elicited loads of fan mail, but one letter in particular caught her attention. From Elizabeth Lawrence, a noted southern garden writer, it was filled with suggestions and encouragement. When Katharine wrote back her appreciation, she reported on her Maine garden and discussed the plants and books that interested her. Thus began a correspondence that would last for almost twenty years, until Katharine’s death in 1977.
Sissinghurst by Adam Nicolson
The story of this piece of land, an estate in the Weald of Kent, is told here for the first time from the very beginning. Adam Nicolson, who now lives there, has uncovered remarkable new findings about its history as a medieval manor and great sixteenth-century house, from the days of its decline as an eighteenth-century prison to a flourishing Victorian farm and on to the creation, by his grandparents Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson, of a garden in a weed-strewn wreck.
In the Heart of the Garden by Helene Wiggin (fiction)
The tale of a garden in the heart of England, and the generations of women who have found solace there. The plot of land at Fritha’s Well first becomes a garden in AD 912. It lives through the terror of the Plague years, the divisions of Civil War, and the heartbreak of the Great War.
If you have any other suggestions, please mention them in the comments!
I hope you enjoy Two Gardeners. Elizabeth Lawrence is a particular favorite of mine. I believe I finally have all of her books. Apart from being a passionate gardener, she was extremely literate. Her books are such a pleasure to read.
Onward and Upward in the Garden is also one of the books I kept when I culled my library a few years ago. Have you read any Henry Mitchell? He was a writer and gardener and animal lover. Love his books, too.
I live in the city now, having left several acres of gardens, and reading gardening narratives is soothing.
I’ve never read any Henry Mitchell, had never even heard mention of his name, so thanks very much for that recommendation, Joan.
Lovely suggestions, just what we need at this time of year!
I found The Morville Hours very meditative. She has a follow up called the Morville Year.
One more suggestion that is a bit different is Conversations with my Gardener by Henri Cueco, actually conversations on life and friendship between a French artist and his gardener.
I’m glad you enjoyed the list, Diana. I’d heard of the film “Dialogue avec mon jardinier” but somehow had missed that it was based on a book – thanks for the recommendation!
A book written in the 1940s may appeal to both your love of gardening and pre 50s English domestic books. This is ‘Merry Hall’, by Beverley Nichols (a man!). After he was bombed out, he wanted a retreat in the country with a garden, and this is the very witty tale of buying the house, meeting the neighbours, and developing the dreadful garden. You don’t have to be a garden lover to enjoy this, but it would make a wonderful present for a gardener.
Michelle Ann, I read Merry Hall last summer and quite enjoyed it! It was my first encounter with Nichols’ writing and I’m looking forward to reading more of his work.
My goodness, I have almost all these books, and love them! The only ones I don’t have are Onward and Upward in the Garden and the Invisible Garden. I now want to add The Morville Year to The Morville Hours …
Might I also suggest to those who love The Laskett (which has gorgeous photos, I might add) also try Sir Roy Strong’s A Country Life which was published in 1994 and is a collection of his articles first published in the magazine Country Life. It has been collated into the four seasons, and I always enjoy the winter section the best. This book really is a treat about the good things of life, which aren’t necessarily the most expensive things … tablescapes, cats, hyacinth vases filled with favourite bulbs, making marmalade, winter pruning, scrapbooks … those who love the books in this particular post will certainly love A Country Life.
I also agree with Michelle Anne – Merry Hall is adorable (fiction, but based on Beverley Nichols own home.)
Margaret, you definitely made the most recommendations when I asked for them in September, which is why this list is so familiar to you! I was already intrigued by Strong after looking into The Laskett so I will definitely add A Country Life to my wishlist as well.
Wow. This is a very impressive sounding list. I enjoy having a beautiful garden, but not sure prior to your themed posts that I would have thought about reading about gardens/gardening. I’m off now to check out the card catalog to see if any of them are available at my library!
It’s when you’re deprived of a garden that you want to read about one the most, I’ve found. I began reading garden-related books while living in an apartment but even now that I find myself with a garden to play in I find I can’t shake my need to keep reading! Good luck in tracking some of these titles down, Susan!
Oh dear,
another siren blog to keep me from getting any work done! But of course I’m 1) Happy to see 3000 Mile on the list, and
2) Eager to contribute one of my all-time favorites: Green Thoughts, by Eleanor Perenyi, who is (or was) best known for her biography of Liszt. It’s an alphabetical collection of short pieces, inspired by her own garden in Connecticut and informed by her history as a world traveler from early youth, wife of a Hungarian Baron, omnivorous reader and skeptical feminist human being who writes so well she makes me think about giving it all up and becoming a plumber.
Sorry to distract you from your work, Leslie, but thanks for stopping by! I’ve only heard wonderful things about Green Thoughts and though it somehow didn’t make it on to any of these four lists, it is already high on my wishlist. I’m so pleased to hear it is one of your all-time favourites; that just makes me even more excited to get my hands on a copy!
My goodness, a comment from Leslie Land! I hope she can read this, as I love her book with Roger Phillips … I bought the paperback when it was on TV here in the UK (I even kept the details from the Radio Times and stapled them into the book!) and then I found the hardback in an Oxfam bookshop a couple of years ago. Sadly, I’ve not been able to locate the series on a DVD but I remember your lovely purple potatoes and Roger having a barbecue in his wonderful town square garden in winter … what a delightful series of films it was. So, Leslie, if you are able to read this, thank you for such a lovely programme and book.
I have The Morville Hours, which does look delightful. I love this list of gardening books, I need to see if our library has any of these! Sissinghurst is already on my to-get list, I haven’t seen it here in Canada yet (I know it is out over here). Thanks for sharing it!!
[…] The Morville Hours by Katherine Swift ages ago on Litlove’s blog, but it was Claire’s recent reference to it that had me trotting off to my library’s catalogue to place it on hold. And I’m very […]
You’re blog is: –to Quote James Lipton / as portrayed by Will Farrell–
“Scrumptulescent!”
I’m well on my way through your ‘Gardening Reading List’ and will be posting my own reviews in the future. However, in the meantime, I enjoyed your review of Mirabel Osler’s ‘A Gentle Plea for Chaos’ so much that I decided to share it (with credits) on my blog rather than writing my own. I hope this is acceptable…if not, I will happily retract. Here is a link:
If you have not read Michael Pollen’s ‘Second Nature…’ , I wholeheartedly recommend it:
Thank you so much for your blogging efforts–very inspiring.
wf3k