Beautiful at All Seasons

by Lawrence, Elizabeth

• ISBN13: 9780822338871
• ISBN10: 0822338874
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-02-28
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Elizabeth Lawrence (190485) is recognized as one of Americars"s most important gardeners and garden writers. In 1957, Lawrence began a weekly column for theCharlotte Observer, blending gardening lore and horticultural expertise gained from her own gardens in Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina, and from her many gardener friends. This book presents 132 of her beloved columns. Never before published in book form, they were chosen from the more than 700 pieces that she wrote for theObserverover fourteen years.Lawrence exchanged plants and gardening tips with everyone from southern "farm ladies" trading bulbs in garden bulletins to prominent regional gardeners. She corresponded with nursery owners, everyday backyard gardeners, and literary luminaries such as Katharine White and Eudora Welty. Her books, includingA Southern Garden,The Little Bulbs, andGardens in Winter, inspired several generations of gardeners in the South and beyond.The columns in this volume cover specific plants, such as sweet peas, hellebores, peonies, and the bamboo growing outside her living-room window, as well as broader topics including the usefulness of vines, the importance of daily pruning, and organic gardening. Like all of Lawrencers"s writing, these columns are peppered with references to conversations with neighbors and quotations from poetry, mythology, and correspondence. They brim with knowledge gained from a lifetime of experimenting in her gardens, from her visits to other gardens, and from her extensive reading.Lawrence once wrote, "Dirty fingernails are not the only requirement for growing plants. One must be as willing to study as to dig, for a knowledge of plants is acquired as much from books as from experience." As inspiring today as when they first appeared in theCharlotte Observer, the columns collected inBeautiful at All Seasonsshowcase not only Lawrencers"s vast knowledge but also her intimate, conversational writing style and her lifelong celebration of gardens and gardening.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Note to the Reader

Seasonal Flowers

Garden Resolutions

Flowers for Christmas Time

Flowers Greet the New Year

Winter Flowers

The Green Winter

A Hard Winter

Bamboo

Storm Damage

The Merry Month of May

Tender Perennials for Hot-Weather Gardens

Flowers in the Fall Border

Fragrance in the Garden

Fall Additions to the Border

Sow Hardy Annual Seeds During September

Planting Annuals in Autumn

Late-Blooming Flowers

The Gardening Year Is Just Beginning

Perennials and Annuals

Planting in Relays

Badge of Gardening Includes Black Knees

Gardening Surprises

The Law of Supply and Demand

Variegated Foliage

Selections for the Rock Garden

Tropical Plants

Annuals

Sweet Peas

Peony

Tree Peonies and Others

Clematis also Flowers in Shade

Beautiful Lilies

Asteromoea mongolica-- Kalimeris pinnatifida

Hellebores

The Christmas Rose and Other Hellebores

Giridlian . . . A Master of Plants

Night-Blooming Cereus

The Dividends of Fall Planting

Savannah Lands of East Carolina

Petasites

Bulbs, Corms, and Tubers

Planting Bulbs, Corms, and Tubers

Bulbs Through the Seasons

Some Early Spring Bulbs

Daffodils Need Early Start

Specialty Bulbs

Crown Imperials

Lycoris radiata

Amaryllis Family

The Surprise Lily

Lilies Grow Where None Were

Garden Casualties

Trees and Shrubs

Planting for Ice Storms

Plants for Parking Strips

Flowering Trees for the City

Street Trees

Trees with Colored Bark

Witch Hazels

Flowering Cherries

Serviceberries and Sloes

Dogwoods

Buckeyes

Eucalyptus

Honey Locust

Osmanthus

Hollies

Conifers

Firs and Cedars

Flowering Shrubs

March-Flowering Shrubs

Viburnums and Other Flowering Shrubs

June-Flowering Shrubs

Viburnums

Pyracanthas

Nandinas

Hydrangeas

Sasanquas

Camellia saluenensis

E. A. Bowles's Lunatics

Vegetables and Herbs, Climbers and Creepers

Fall Vegetables

Two Vegetable Gardens

Mrs. Hobbs and Her Herbs

Sweet Woodruff

Dandelions

Vines Are Useful Tools

Smilax

Clematis Hybrids

Akebia and Rosa banksiae

Ground Covers

Ground Covers Pose Problems

Tiny Creepers

Gardeners and Gardens

Wing Haven

Importance of Garden Details

Steps in Your Garden

Walks and Paths

Terraces and Patios

Water in the Garden

Mr. Krippenndorf's Garden

Physic Garden at the Country Doctor Museum

Mr. Busbee's Garden

A Visit to Italy's Oldest Botanic Garden

Colette's Mother's Garden

The Splendor of Royal Gardens

Gotelli's Collection of Dwarf Conifers

The Scented Garden

The Gardens of a Soldier's Wife

Pioneer Seedsman

Young Belgian Guided Southern Horticulture

Meet Caroline Dormon

She Talks to the Birds

The Hunt Arboretum

Gods, Legends, and Rituals

The Gods of the Garden

The Ash, a Symbol in History

The Tale of the Magical Hawthorn Tree

The Holy Thorn Blooms for Royalty

The Christian Year Parallels the Garden Year

Holiday Wreaths

The Advent Wreath

Legend and Lore of the Christmas Tree

International Christmas Trees

The Flowers of the Trinity

The Flowers of Passiontide

The Story of the Passion Flower

Rituals of the Palms

Rogation Days-- The Blessing of the Crops

Bits and Pieces

Asafetida

Feeding the Birds

Honey

Organic Gardening

Pruning

Pruning Should Be Done Every Day

Historic Flower Arrangements

Bouquet Carried Messages

Pomanders

Creatures Add to a Garden

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.