A Garden of One's Own

June 1, 1997
If you garden in the Southeast, you will want this collection of articles by noted garden writer Lawrence (1904-84), taken from such popular magazines as House & Garden, The Home Garden, Garden Gossip, and others from the 1930s and 1940s. Presenting her personal observations--the key to all good garden writing--Lawrence proselytizes for plants native to the Southeast and for unusual plants that were neglected in her area and time, especially for plants with winter interest. She is no zealot, however, for she also writes about rock garden plants for the mid-South, acknowledging that her climate is not at all ideal for alpine plants. The practical advice she gives about specific plants--e.g., "it takes about three seasons to evaluate a daylily"--and the liveliness of her writing make this volume of interest to all gardening collections but essential only to those in her mid-South area.--Daniel Starr, Museum of Modern Art, New York