A Garden with House Attached

Catalog Record: A garden with house attached | Hathi Trust Digital Library

---

We are granted a tour of her garden, given tips on which different types of plants work best where, and receive plenty of anecdotes about various flowers. I am more of a Garden Slave than a true Gardener.

Item Preview

I don't always know the proper names of my plants, and I am sure I don't follow all the rules when it comes to caring for them. So there were a few pages where I found myself going dormant Sarah Warner Brooks packed a lot of interesting information into the fifteen chapters of this little book. So there were a few pages where I found myself going dormant from reading the names and hints for mulching, feeding, winter care and such like. But once I started Googling the names of the flowers she mentioned, I blossomed again and had fun wondering how this or that plant would look in my own garden.

Brooks had moved to this garden and the house, of course two years after her husband had died; the book was published in and if I read correctly she had been there ten years by then.

Garden rooms can be attached to the house

It must have been lovely. There are a few pictures: I would have loved to see the lilac trees; she said there were so many that the estate was known as The Lilacs.

Imagine walking the grounds when they were blooming! Even though there is a lot of gardening advice here the kind a true Gardener would appreciate the writing style is chatty; a little meandering. It feels like a nice gossip about plants between neighbors. I enjoyed the bits of history she tells about some flowers, like this about the Forget-Me-Not: The Forget-me-not is another low-growing perennial which may prettily carpet the bare spots between the taller occupants of the border.

We have all associated the name of this charming little flower with the story of the chivalrous knight who wandered beside a stream with the lady of his love. In the attempt to procure for her some of its much-desired flowers growing on the opposite shore he was borne away by the current while returning to her side with the gathered blossoms, and, making a last effort, threw them on the margin of the engulfing flood, and crying "Forget-me-not," sank beneath the waters.

She does not come across as one of those snooty know-it-all gardeners that make us Garden Slaves feel about two inches tall. She admits defeat when it happens, like this about roses: And now it is on my conscience that, in this authentic history, I have not yet confessed my disgraceful failure with Perpetual Roses. In the little bed, started ten years ago, but six decadent specimens now "hold the fort.

A Garden with House Attached

I try not to go on forever in my reviews, but this has been such a charming visit to a lovely garden with a friendly tour guide, that I simply couldn't help myself. And I can't wait for morning to come so I can look around and decide where to put my own hollyhock bed! View all 3 comments. Jul 10, Denise Kruse rated it liked it.

Sometimes I like to read these old gardening books because the descriptions are so cool. This one, written in about the author's Massachusetts "Mansion House", is a combination of poetry and practicality. It has me rethinking the evil weed, oxalis, which she lovingly tended in hanging baskets! Nice Old-World, European ambiance in this writing.

Do amateur gardeners still use 'manure water and soot tea'?

I'd like to think so. I wouldn't know because I don't know the first thing about gardening. Author and gardening enthusiast Sarah Warner Brooks certainly knew her stuff though, if this slim yet comprehensively informative volume is anything to go by. Garden plants, house plants, basket plants, potted plants, annuals, biannual, perennials; she successfully tried her hand at growing just about every common flower, except the rose funnily en Do amateur gardeners still use 'manure water and soot tea'?

It is a hard call. You make it sound relatively easy. I could not imagine leaving such an excellent garden and home, even for something better. It is good to hear that you are doing well with it, but I still can not imagine it. I never recovered from leaving my previous home seven years ago. I have to admit I did shed a tear or two when writing this post. Like Liked by 1 person. Sarah, my heart goes out to you. It must feel a little bit like launching your child a bit before their time.

Best of luck with the transition. New schools for the boys, a new garden for you, and fresh sea air for all of you. That is so sweet. There will of course be a new garden, but the good news is, it is still in the same community so the only thing changing really is our view.

The boys will be still at the same schools. I am horribly sad about my garden though. Oh that is great news, Sarah. Thanks for letting me know. That will surely ease things a bit. I would be horribly sad to leave my garden behind. I have loved following you and your garden and look forward to sharing the journey to your new garden with you and your family.

Every best wish that you find just the right property. I think the new place will be just as lovely as here, but this garden has been such a journey, it will be hard to leave.

The coast will be good for you too. An sad goodbye but an exciting new chapter in your life. A sad goodbye but an exciting new chapter in your life. That is one of the upsides — changing the things that bug me, but yes it will be sad to say goodbye. Sarah, I love your attitude!

Navigation

It would be a wrench to leave that fabulous garden, but your next garden will be a wonderful adventure. I guess that is the best thing about a garden — it can be rebuilt easy enough — it is a tangible thing. And with a coastal garden comes a whole new set of challenges for you to meet, greet and send on their merry way. As long as you are surrounded by your loving family, all will be well and your new garden will benefit from the knowledge gained from the successes and failures of your existing one.

The coastal garden will be interesting, but challenges mean learning and with gardening you never stop learning. Wow, what a heavy-hearted but exciting change! Your place looks beautiful and I know it will be really hard for you to say goodbye, but it will also be exciting to start a garden afresh elsewhere with all the things you know now.

The possibilities are endless. I hope you get a good sale for all your hard work and that you find somewhere amazing that suits the whole family.

I think it will be very hard to say goodbye. I have already shed a few tears and we are still in the early days of this project! I would be completely lost without a garden so of course there has to be a new one in the deal. I have moved gardens more times than I can easily recall. It is not easy. Last time, I asked if we could rent a backhoe to bring my soil with me so as to not have to start rebuilding sad soil from scratch. I will be thinking of you during this time of hellos and goodbyes in your life. I would love to take a large truckload of my lovely soil with me.

I have just got it to the point that it is working for me without getting too weedy so it is easy to care for. There will be other soils…. There will be other soils. Soils with fewer Cabbage Looper eggs sleeping beneath the surface, perhaps. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Twitter account.

Catalog Record: A garden with house attached | Hathi Trust Digital Library

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. I love reading about your garden.

• Heaven Sent: A Legacy of Love from Human, to Angel, to Canine
• Cosas Nuevas Y Viejas (Apuntes Sevillanos) (Spanish Edition)
• The Hickory Factor
• Insiders - Volume 1 - Chechen Guerrilla: 01 (I.R.$.)
• Schatten über Nicaragua (German Edition)
• After The Fire: A Writer Finds His Place
• Oaths and the English Reformation (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History)