Navigate: (use the links to quickly navigate your virtual bookstore)

“This is the biography of Elizabeth Lawrence that we have all been waiting for. Even though Lawrence’s writings are legendary among Southern gardeners, her personal life has always been somewhat elusive. Wilson deftly weaves together Lawrence’s passions—her gardens, family circle, cherished friendships, and even her religious beliefs—in a compelling narrative.” —Judith B. Tankard, Landscape Institute, Harvard University

“Reading for a winter’s night for those, like Lawrence, who ponder why we garden.” —Diane Heilenman, Gannett News Service

“Lawrence’s life is celebrated with joy, reverence, and clarity in this captivating biography of the quintessential horticulturalist whose columns and books about her private Southern garden inspired gardeners throughout the country. Wilson vibrantly traces Lawrence’s developments from a shy, devoted daughter to a pioneering landscape architect and prolific garden writer.” —Carol Haggas, Booklist

“A perceptive biography of one of the country’s great gardeners and gardening writers. Sensitive and luminously written.” —Kirkus Reviews

“How can anyone resist reading this life, well-illustrated by photographs, of this small, beautiful woman?” —Janet Lembke, Raleigh News & Observer

---

Elizabeth Lawrence (1904-1985) lived a singular, contradictory life as a true Southerner; a successful, independent gardening writer with her own newspaper column; a dutiful daughter; a landscape architect; an accomplished poet; a friend of literary figures like Eudora Welty and Joseph Mitchell; and a very private woman, whose recently discovered letters reveal something of her mystery. Reprint.

Emily Herring Wilson is a writer, lecturer, and novice gardener living in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She is author of Hope and Dignity: Older Black Women of the South and coauthor of North Carolina Women: Making History. She has taught at Wake Forest University, Salem College, and Cornell University and is a MacDowell Fellow.