Gardening for Love: The Market Bulletins

Overview

“An enchanting work, unlike any other gardening book in existence.”—Stanley Kunitz, New York Times Book Review

“As she chronicles her various discoveries in the market bulletins, Lawrence also reveals a good bit that is fresh and delicate in American life. . . . Anyone who has ever read Elizabeth Lawrence will expect an enchanting two hours from her, and will find it.”—Henry Mitchell, Washington Post Book World

Lawrence’s book is a celebration ...

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Overview

“An enchanting work, unlike any other gardening book in existence.”—Stanley Kunitz, New York Times Book Review

“As she chronicles her various discoveries in the market bulletins, Lawrence also reveals a good bit that is fresh and delicate in American life. . . . Anyone who has ever read Elizabeth Lawrence will expect an enchanting two hours from her, and will find it.”—Henry Mitchell, Washington Post Book World

Lawrence’s book is a celebration of life in all its diversity, and life, she makes us feel, is the main event.”—Richard Dyer, Boston Globe

Gardening for Love is a collection of Elizabeth Lawrence’s writings centered around her 40-year correspondence with the avid gardeners—of rural Mississippi, the Carolinas, Georgia, and other states—who share their seeds and plants by ads in bulletins selling everything from moonvines to puppies.
“As garden writer Allen Lacy points out in his eloquent introduction, Lawrence was far more than just a regional writer. Just as Eudora Welty—the friend who first interested Elizabeth Lawrence in the Mississippi Market Bulletin— has the voice and feel of her native Jackson, Mississippi, so Lawrence has an intimate knowledge of her home soil.
“But her scope, just like Welty’s, stretches far and deep, reaching into the hearts of not only gardeners, but any reader fascinated with the comings and goings of the human race. . . . There’s a sense of comfort in this book, in the eternity of tending plants that stretch back through the centuries.”—Anne Raver, Newsday

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Miss Bessie Bloodworth has some amaryllis bulbs to sell; a beekeeper ``not afraid of bees or work'' is wanted; Miss Donna Tidwell wants to trade a pair of goats for a hog. These are a few of the colorful characters who appear in the pages of market bulletinsregional publications that offer seeds and miscellanea for sale or swap. Introduced to the bulletins by Eudora Welty, veteran gardening writer Lawrence became an avid subscriber to various publications across the country and was preparing a book on the bulletins before her death in 1985; New York Times gardening columnist Lacy has edited the draft. With her homespun yet poetic style, Lawrence captures the spirit of the dedicated gardeners with whom she corresponded for a number of years. She lovingly describes the plants and flowers she obtained from bulletin folks. Unfortunately, the anecdotes wax repetitious and the book bogs down in minutia about seeds, bulbs and cuttings. Illustrations not seen by PW. (April 24)
Library Journal
Here is the last manuscript of gifted gardener and garden writer Lawrence, edited after her death by Lacy. The work is drawn from 30 years' correspondence with those who advertised garden seeds and plants in the state agricultural bulletins, a primarily southern means of marketing farm products by ``otherwise ordinary and unrecorded people.'' These sales earned the farm wives extra income, and Lawrence grew their plants in her North Carolina garden. Their knowledge about the names and uses of native plants provided Lawrence with tremendous amounts of information, but mostly she valued these friendships with those who ``garden for love.'' This material will continue to instruct and inspire working gardeners, who will also appreciate Lacy's lists of common plant names and sources. Recommended. Deci Lowry, Chappaqua, N.Y.
Booknews
A memoir of correspondence between Miss Lawrence and subscribers to market bulletins throughout the South, with plenty of gardening information and much insight into the rural South. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780822308874
  • Publisher: Duke University Press
  • Publication date: 1/28/1988
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 238
  • Sales rank: 1,252,487
  • Product dimensions: 4.92 (w) x 7.93 (h) x 0.65 (d)

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