"...do plant Abelia Triflora. It flowers in June, grows to the size of what we used to call syringe [lilac], and is smothered in white, funnel-shaped flowers with the strongest scent of Jasmine." -Vita Sackville-West In Your Garden; June 18th, 1950 I waited all summer to buy the Abelia. As you might know, shrubs are best … Continue reading Fragrant Abelia
What Books Can Do…
The more one gardens, the more one learns; and the more one learns, the more one realizes how little one knows. I suppose the whole of life is like that: the endless complications, the endless difficulties, the endless fight against one thing or another, whether it be green-fly on the roses or the complexity of … Continue reading What Books Can Do…
Coming Home…
We have been warned that there may be a shortage of certain flower seeds after the unnaturally wet and sunless summer of 1954, and that it is therefore even more advisable than usual to order in good time. -Vita Sackville-West More For Your Garden January 2, 1955 I haven't written in a few weeks. During my time … Continue reading Coming Home…
To The Jungle…
How To Water Multiple Orchids
Examining The Garden of Love…
Today as I was driving down Oxford Street I saw a woman on a refuge, carrying the Lighthouse.* She was an unknown woman, - up from the country, I should think, and just been to Mudie's or the Times, - and as the policeman held me up with his white glove I saw your name staring … Continue reading Examining The Garden of Love…
The Modest Christmas Cyclamen
I went to a Christmas party given by a neighbor of mine...All the things appertaining to a cocktail party were standing about, on tables; but the thing that instantly caught my eye was a pot plant of cyclamen I had not seen for years. Delicate in its quality, subtle in its scent, which resembles the … Continue reading The Modest Christmas Cyclamen
A Gardener’s Haste Makes Waste
No good comes of repining, so let me note one special thing I saw at Nymans on that rather bleak March day, a thing that can be planted by any of us during the coming autumn with an assurance of immediate effect next spring. You know how truly right daffodils look in grass? It may … Continue reading A Gardener’s Haste Makes Waste
Indoor Gardening: A Happy Journey Through Winter.
The fashion for growing plants indoors is very understandably on the increase. The lead had been given to us by the Scandinavia countries, where the climate must be more difficult to manage than our own, and where the inhabitants go to the most elaborate lengths to ensure a supply of living vegetation and greenery in … Continue reading Indoor Gardening: A Happy Journey Through Winter.
Winter Rebels
Flower Picking "To Spite" The Cold.
Garden For The Eyes-Write For The Ears
The watchers out on the grass could see the interior of the rooms illuminated by the savage glow. The paneling of the hall had caught, and even as they looked they saw the canvas of a portrait give an extra little spurt of a yellower flame and flutter without its frame to the floor. This … Continue reading Garden For The Eyes-Write For The Ears










