Stir your imagination. . . . a biography written through plants.” —The New York Times Book Review “With wit and expertise, McDowell highlights the stamp of Potter’s horticultural know-how on her indelible books and chronicles a year in her exuberant gardens to create a visually exciting, pleasurably informative appreciation of Potter’s devotion to art and nature.” —Booklist “A loving portrait.” —Better Homes and Gardens “You will be charmed by this book.” —Gardens Illustrated “A richly illustrated exploration of Beatrix Potter’s evolution as an author-illustrator, gardener, sheep farmer and land preservationist.” —Shelf Awareness “Rarely does a gardening book blend such a rich love of nature, literature, home, and the magic of growing so beautifully. If you have a gardener in your life, this is the perfect holiday gift.” —Encore “In her new book, Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life, Marta McDowell expands our knowledge of Miss Potter horticultural expertise and background, explaining what she grew and where. There are photographs here that I have never seen before of Beatrix and her gardens, and delicious watercolors of rose hips and violets, clematis and honeysuckle, snapdragons and waterlilies—with and without rabbits, frogs and guileless ducks.” —The Telegraph “A volume rich with photographs and Potter’s own enchanting sketches and watercolors.” —The Chicago Tribune “McDowell brings to light a delightfully different side of the celebrated author. . . . The book recounts Potter’s life through a gardening lens and is copiously illustrated with her sketches and watercolors of plants.” —American Gardener “McDowell’s book is beautiful in every way. The fascinating narrative is liberally illustrated with both photographs and Potter’s original artwork, which includes botanical prints and paintings of gardens in addition to her iconic collection of children’s illustrations.” —Cape Codder “This is not an historical novel with a plot, but neither is it a mere documentary of facts. It is the perfect blend of both.” —Alaska Airlines Magazine “You may well want to buy a copy to keep and several to give friends. . . . McDowell’s well-researched book (including plant lists) is nearly as good as a visit to the farm. From a watercolor of Jemima Puddle-duck hiding from a fox among the foxgloves, to sepia photos of Potter strolling the garden paths on a frosty morning, the book is a visual delight.” —The Seattle Times
Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children's Tales
Narrated by Henrietta Meire
Marta McDowellUnabridged — 3 hours, 38 minutes
Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children's Tales
Narrated by Henrietta Meire
Marta McDowellUnabridged — 3 hours, 38 minutes
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Overview
Editorial Reviews
The first book to explore Beatrix Potter's garden and how it influenced her children's stories... A great gift book for old and new fans alike."
Horticulturalist McDowell tells of famed children's author Beatrix Potter's magnificent garden on Hill Top Farm, in England. Filled with vivid descriptions, photographs, maps, illustrations, and quotes from Potter, this book details the landscape that provided inspiration for some of the most well-known childhood tales of all time.”
This is not an historical novel with a plot, but neither is it a mere documentary of facts. It is the perfect blend of both.”
Brings the reader into the life of the beloved author and illustrator… chock-full of wonderful photographs of Potter and her gardens... a book to banish winter blues.”
Rich with photographs and Potter’s watercolors, this is destined to be a coffee table classic.”
Illustrated throughout with Potter’s charming watercolors and historic photographs, this book is a delightful exploration of the landscape that inspired one of the world’s great authors… about as charming as a garden book can be.”
Gardening lovers and children's literature lovers alike will find beauty in these pages of photographs and stories about Beatrix Potter and her characters and flowers."
McDowell traces the journey of Potter the gardener, which is inextricable linked to Potter the writer... A fascinating insight into how Potter's writing and passion for plants (she experimented with a wide variety of species and was a prodigious propagator) fed each other."
Stir your imagination… a biography written through plants.”
Potter springs to life from the pages of this fascinating and beautiful book.”
A richly illustrated exploration of Beatrix Potter's evolution as an author-illustrator, gardener, sheep farmer and land preservationist.”
In this visually charming book, McDowell takes us from her childhood summers in the country to her adult homes and gardens.”
Illustrated on every page with scenes from Potter’s life and her botanical illustrations… If you love gardening, you will love this book.”
One of the best books this year for the gardener on your holiday gift list… a gem.”
"A beautiful book that gives a strong sense of the strong and practical woman that Potter was. Nearly every page has a photograph or delicate painting from one of her books… a visual feast."
"McDowell brings to light a delightfully different side of the celebrated author... The book recounts Potter's life through a gardening lens and is copiously illustrated with her sketches and watercolors of plants."
A volume rich with photographs and Potter's own enchanting sketches and watercolors.”
McDowell leads her readers on a virtual tour of the gardens that were important in Potter's life and provides season-by-season descriptions of the flowered landscapes the author created at Hill Top Farm and Castle Cottage."
Gardeners brought up on the mishaps of Peter Rabbit can now curl up with Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life… This work brings Potter, as much as her garden, to life, as an energetic, sturdy soul with an uncanny understanding of animals.”
You may well want to buy a copy to keep and several to give friends... the book is a visual delight.”
Gardening lovers and children's literature lovers alike will find beauty in these pages of photographs and stories about Beatrix Potter and her characters and flowers."
McDowell traces the journey of Potter the gardener, which is inextricable linked to Potter the writer... A fascinating insight into how Potter's writing and passion for plants (she experimented with a wide variety of species and was a prodigious propagator) fed each other."
A richly illustrated exploration of Beatrix Potter's evolution as an author-illustrator, gardener, sheep farmer and land preservationist.”
You may well want to buy a copy to keep and several to give friends... the book is a visual delight.”
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170635573 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Tantor Audio |
| Publication date: | 12/18/2018 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Read an Excerpt
Preface First, a confession. I did not read Beatrix Potter as a child. In fact, I learned about Peter Rabbit from a knockoff of sorts. The spoiled youngest of four, I would steadily pester my mother for books on outings to Woolworths, and one day she bought me a shiny-covered Golden Book called Little Peter Cottontail by Thornton W. Burgess. Its naughty rabbit cavorted in wildflowers and visited a farm, but never found Mr. McGregor’s garden. My introduction to Beatrix Potter came much later in life. In 1981, at a shower celebrating my upcoming nuptials, someone gave me a large cookie jar in the shape of a bonneted, apron-bedecked “porcupine” holding an iron. Wedding showers are awkward at best, particularly for learning about famous characters from childhood literature that one has somehow, in two-plus decades of life, managed to miss. What did I say when opening this gift in front of a sizeable, entirely female audience of friends, family, and future relations? That memory is lost. I have also repressed the identity of the gift-giver. Neither the Mrs. Tiggy-winkle cookie jar (a hedgehog, if you please) nor the marriage lasted long. Fast-forward to 1997, when I set off with my second (and last) husband and two aged parents for a tour of Scotland and the Lake District. William Wordsworth was on our agenda. His homes, Dove Cottage and Rydal Mount, are both near Grasmere and not far from Windermere, where we were staying. And what of Beatrix Potter, that children’s author and artist? Our visit to Hill Top Farm, Miss Potter’s beloved home on the other side of Windermere, turned out to be a highlight. For one thing, the sun came out that afternoon after a week of Scotland in the rain. (My mother, who had brought only one pair of shoes—my father would blow dry them for her every night in our B&B—was especially grateful.) The Hill Top garden was at its August peak; the tour was engaging. I learned that day that Beatrix Potter was a gardener. I garden, though some days I feel that I do most of my gardening at the keyboard. I am intrigued by writers who garden and by gardeners who write. The pen and the trowel are not interchangeable, but seem often linked. Emily Dickinson, poet and gardener, has long been an obsession of mine. Edith Wharton interests me, and Jane Austen, both novelists with a gardening bent. I once read all of Nathaniel Hawthorne, winnowing his words for horticultural references. Gertrude Jekyll and Vita Sackville-West also oblige. And now there was Beatrix Potter. So Beatrix Potter and the idea of her garden simmered quietly at the back of my mind. Over the years I saw some of Potter’s marvelous botanical watercolors at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. Miss Potter, a Hollywood film, came and went. An adroit article by Peter Parker appeared in the gardening journal Hortus. But one day at the New York Botanical Garden shop, two books lay side by side on a display table: a new edition of Potter’s The Complete Tales and Linda Lear’s biography, Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature. The simmer turned to a boil. A few explanatory notes. You may be relieved or perturbed, depending on your druthers, that I have avoided botanical names in most of the book. Beatrix was not impressed with gardener’s Latin, so I have bowed to her feelings on the matter. For those of you who are looking for these particulars, you will find lists of the plants she grew, wrote about, and illustrated, including their proper nomenclature, at the end of the book. Her grammar, punctuation, and spelling were loose, particularly in her letters, but they are reproduced as she wrote them. I would encourage you to have copies of her Tales at hand. The stories with their illustrations are a joy to read. They will increase your understanding of both Beatrix Potter and her gardens. Part One is a gardener’s biography of Beatrix Potter. In terms of her own name, I must beg her pardon on two counts. First, for taking the liberty of referring to her by her Christian name, I plead twenty-first-century customs. Second, during her married years I have generally stuck to her maiden name rather than switching to her preferred “Mrs. Heelis.” As she continued to use Potter professionally throughout her life, she would, I think, understand that it is by that name that we continue to know her best. Part Two follows Beatrix Potter through a year in her gardens. When she lived with her husband at Castle Cottage, it is not always clear whether she and her correspondents are discussing the garden there or across the road at Hill Top Farm. So in describing the progress of her gardens through the seasons I hope I will be forgiven for smudging the lines a bit, as her efforts and enjoyment encompassed both. Part Three is a traveler’s guide, intended as a lure to discover or rediscover Beatrix Potter’s Lake District and the other parts of Great Britain that influenced her. The gardens at Hill Top Farm alone would merit a visit, and there are many other gardens and landscapes that still have echoes of her.
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