The Illustrated Garden Book: A New Anthology

by Robin Lane Fox, Vita Sackville-West (Editor), Freda Titford (Illustrator)

Offers a month by month discussion of gardening, looks at specific varieties of flowers and plants, and suggests solutions to common problems

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 1986

Reviews

[Karen Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, the book was edited by Robin Fox, the writing is Vita Sackville-West's. This book is made up of excerpts from the gardening column Sackville-West wrote over the course of several decades. The writing is unpretentious, informal and informative. Reading it was rather like accompanying an old friend around her garden. Except that the garden is Sissinghurst Castle. Vita was never a stand back and direct operations gardener, even in the days before WWII when she had a staff. As she said to a reader who dismissed her as one of those, she had "broken her back, her nails, and her heart" as a gardener. In these columns she shared her good ideas, not so good ideas, and failures, things that worked for her no matter what the professionals claimed, the plants she loved and the plants she didn't. She asked for advice from her readers and told them when she didn't know something. Her readers loved her, except for the fellow who accused her of being a "pillow gardener," wrote to her and sent her plants and other gifts, and she reciprocated. Alas, I was born too late for that. There are several versions of "The Garden Book", with different editors and different column excerpts - someday I hope someone will publish the whole collection so I can spend more time with Vita.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a selection of Sackville-West's gardening columns from the 1950s, organized by month. She is one of the first and best gardening authorities, and influenced many later garden designers and writers. These pieces are as much about the pleasures of gardening long-term as they are about the practicalities. Her tone is friendly and chatty, in an upper-crust and literary way, and her descriptions are blissfully vivid and rich. If it's a northern February, and you're sick of winter but have to live with frozen soil for another month or two, this is a good armchair choice when you've looked at all the catalogs.

She discusses many specific plans and plant varieties, planning and cultivation. She had a huge English manor house garden (now open to the public) and a staff, but she knew she was talking to a newspaper audience that might have ten square feet, and she has ideas for both. There is nothing too precious about her suggestions, her hands are dirty, and she talks about failures and unexpected successes as well as describing ideal outcomes and making recommendations.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book by a master in the field is always enlightening. Vita Sackville-West is reknown for her gardening designs and use of color. She had some interesting things to say about placement and choice of plants, although some of her information was dated. I wish that plans of the gardens of her house had been included, it would have made things easier to visualize.