The famous creator of Sissinghurst Garden, Vita Sackville-West, wrote a weekly garden column for the Observer for fifteen years between 1946 and 1961. In You Garden is a collection of the articles she wrote between 1946 and 1950, two longer essays by Sackville-West on a seventeenth century gardening manual and the garden at Hidcote Manor, as well as an extract from her 1937 book, Some Flowers, that describes some of her favorites. This book is the first in a series of four presenting the Observer articles.
The articles are presented by the month in which they were written regardless of the year. The content varies but is always informative as well as entertaining. In one entry you learn about old and new cultivars of lilac followed by a stern admonition about protecting pets from accidental poisoning with slug bait and a suggestion for doing so. Sackville-West’s writing can be poetic as when she described an old apple trees about to burst into bloom , “closed buds of youth graciously blushing as youth must blush in the presence of age, knowing very well that within a few months they themselves would turn into the apples of autumnal fruit.”
Sackville-West’s enthusiasm for the subject matter comes through in every entry. She sees magic in the garden and freely shares her love and admiration for all she encounters. Her enthusiasm is infectious and kindles the desire to enjoy the garden as a visitor or as a gardener. Yet, Sacksville-West is a practical person and includes a lot sound advice for gardeners describing her own successes and failures In Your Garden is a unique garden book that can be enjoyed by anyone who has ever taken pleasure in a garden.
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