Gardening enthusiasts and those who love to read about gardening will be delighted by this new collection of Elizabeth Lawrence's work. A gifted landscape architect and writer, Lawrence (1904-85) chronicled her experiences with plants in a voice treasured for its distinctive blend of horticultural expertise and stylistic elegance. Through her six books, all still in print, Lawrence continues to inspire an ever-widening circle of dedicated readers everywhere. Between 1932 and 1978, Lawrence wrote more than fifty articles for gardening magazines, newsletters, and plant society bulletins. Uncovered in a seven-year search and collected here for the first time, these writings offer further testament to her talent for conveying practical details in an engaging, literate manner. Treating such subjects as trees and shrubs, bulbs, perennials, native plants, even fellow gardeners, this collection will be welcomed by the novice and knowledgeable gardener alike.
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.
A Garden of One's Own: Writings of Elizabeth Lawrence by Elizabeth Lawrence (UNC Press 1997)(635.9). This is a new collection of essays by one of the great Southern garden writers. My rating: 7/10, finished 2004.