A Southern Garden

by Elizabeth Lawrence

When Elizabeth Lawrence's A Southern Garden was first published in 1942, it was the only book to address the needs of gardeners in Zones 7 and 8—an area that ranges from Richmond to San Antonio and on up the West Coast to Seattle. Although many books are now available for this region, gardeners frequently return to A Southern Garden for inspiration.

More than eighty years later, Lawrence's information is still fresh, her style of writing still delightful. She not only gives practical advice but manages to convey what it is about gardening that draws so many people to it. This new edition of A Southern Garden will be treasured by all who love gardens and good writing.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1942

About the author

Elizabeth Lawrence was born in Marietta, Georgia, on May 27, 1904. The family moved several times, and in 1912, settled in Garysburg, NC. Lawrence "considered childhood the most important stage in a person's life," and had fond memories of her time in Garysburg.

In 1916 the family moved to Raleigh so that Elizabeth and her sister Ann might attend St. Mary’s School. Elizabeth then attended Barnard College in New York from 1922 - 1926. Upon graduation, she returned to Raleigh where she later studied landscape architecture at North Carolina State College (currently NC State University). In 1932, she became the first woman to graduate in this program at the college.

Elizabeth’s desire and passion was to garden and writing about gardening was what she knew best. In the 1930’s she slowly gained publication in a number of small garden periodicals, and then in 1942, A Southern Garden was published. It was lauded immediately. “Now, at long last,” wrote Charlotte Hilton Green, “there is a book on Southern gardening by a Southern writer that is a ‘must’ for every garden lover of the South.” It was reprinted in 1967, 1984, 1991 and 2001. A Southern Garden has long since been hailed as a classic.

In 1984, Lawrence, in declining health, moved to Maryland to be close to family. She died in 1985 in Maryland.

Reviews

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Southern Garden by Elizabeth Lawrence (University of North Carolina Press 1942) (635.9). This is a collection of essays on gardening in the Middle South by a legendary Southern gardening expert. This book includes bloom dates recorded over a period of years for over 800 plants. My rating: 7.5/10, finished 2007.

[Melissa Embry · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been decades since I first read Elizabeth Lawrence’s A Southern Garden, first published in 1941. My paperback copy of the revised 1967 edition, with its charming watercolor illustrations, has long since fallen into tatters and been passed along to my daughter. But not before I secured a hardback copy containing a photograph of Lawrence and her beloved spaniel at the entrance to her Raleigh, North Carolina, garden.

Since then, I never pass by a used bookstore without checking for any of the too-short list of Lawrence’s books. A long-time garden columnist for the Charlotte (North Carolina) Observer, Lawrence was the first woman to receive a degree in landscape architecture from the University of North Carolina. Less often mentioned among her writing credentials is her degree from Barnard College in New York, but her education there informs her writing as much as her passion for plants. Even the limited number of black and white photo illustrations can’t diminish the exquisite descriptiveness of Lawrence’s writing.

Lawrence used her own gardens (first in Raleigh, then in Charlotte) as testing grounds for her landscape design work, giving her discussion of plants a hands-on credibility. A Southern Garden (actually applicable to any gardens in USDA Zone 8), is arranged chronologically by season, and contains extensive notes on blooming dates, updated material, and lists of nurseries (some, alas, no longer in existence).

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was boring.

Maybe I was expecting something more like An Island Garden. Maybe I got too excited about it being a NC book. To find out that Raleigh is two or three zones hotter than here.