The Illustrated Garden Book - Softcover

Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962) liked a tidy garden and wrote a tidy essay. This book offers a sampling of her acclaimed gardening columns from the London Observer, grouped here by the months of the year. Sackville-West covered everything from the genesis of her white and gray summer garden to humorous ways to ward off birds (including "potatoes stuck with pheasants' feathers"). She didn't mince words ("one of the secrets of good gardening is to remove, ruthlessly, any plant one does not like"), yet was a poet at heart ("The flowers of Magnolia grandiflora look like great white pigeons settling among dark leaves"). Her vivid prose and fresh insights into gardening make this book a delight for armchair and active gardeners alike. There are lovely color drawings of some plants that she mentions and color photographs of her award-winning gardens, which still thrive at her home, 500-year-old Sissinghurst Castle.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.