Product Description

The author believes gardening in the middle South, where seasons have no definite boundaries but merge imperceptibly, could and should be a year-round pleasure. She takes us through the cycle of seasons, telling which plants are most suitable to which season. The book includes tables giving blooming dates of over eight hundred varieties of plants which were recorded over a period of years.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #632769 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
"[Lawrence] is one of those rarities: a writer at once elegant and accessible, learned and down-to-earth." -- Horticulture, July/August 2004

Review
"The best written advice on landscaping and gardening in the Southeast."
— Fine Gardening

"Continues to be the best book about gardening in the South today. Technology and lifestyles have changed greatly since [Lawrence] wrote the book in 1941, but plants have not."
— Gwinnett Daily Post

Lawrence's exceptional gift for writing about plants puts this volume in the category of fine literature, so even if you aren't a gardener, you'll still enjoy it. Be forewarned, though: If you aren't a gardener before reading A Southern Garden, chances are you will be when you finish. (Southern Living)

I have learned more about horticulture, plants, and garden history and literature from Elizabeth Lawrence than from any other one person. (Katharine S. White in Onward and Upward in the Garden)

An extraordinary evocation of the actual joy of handling plants and working the soil. (Penelope Hobhouse in Garden Style)

Gardening books written in elegant style and filled with information are rare indeed. (William Lanier Hunt)

The essential appeal of her book rests in its sense of place, its encyclopedic knowledge of plants and its conversational style. (Charlotte Observer)

About the Author
Elizabeth Lawrence was the first woman to receive a degree in landscape architecture from the North Carolina State College School of Design. Her own legendary gardens in Raleigh and Charlotte provided the background for her books and columns.

Customer Reviews

A must have for anyone gardening in the South.
This book is a window into the way our Grandmother's gardened. Miss Lawrence describes in her own wonderful and modest style where she purchased plants and how plants she admired performed either in her garden or in the garden's of her friend's. Her descriptions are informative and often humorous. Anyone serious about gardening in the South should own this book as a reference guide. Even a non-gardener would enjoy this lovely book.

Not just for Zone 8 Gardening...
In the fifties, when I was growing up in North Carolina, Miss Lawrence was known in garden circles all over the state as she had been an active gardener and writer for a number of years. I am pleased to see "A Southern Garden" which she wrote in 1942 back in print. RE-reading her words is like listening to an old friend.

She lived and gardened first in Raleigh, then in Charlotte (both Zone 8). The winters in Zone 7 were a bit colder, but many of the plants she recommended for Zone 8, survived in Zone 7 where my family lived and gardened. Given global warming, I think much of Zone 7, which extends right up the East Coast--almost to New England (?)--is now verging on becoming Zone 8 -- at least the part that lies east of the "fall line" on the coastal plain.

I have lived in Arlington, Virginia for a number of years, and have seen a decided shift in the climate in my area. Crepe Myrtles that used to live no futher north than Fredericksburg and die back to the ground in Arlington don't. And Catbirds, a real southerner are nesting in my yard. Both of these are Zone 8 transplants.

Even though I am technicaly in the lower edge of Zone 7, I can grow almost anything Miss Lawrence discusses in her book "A Southern Garden" in my garden. My house is on the "fall line" however, and just west of me the winters are a tad too cold for some things. But if you live in Zone 7, and like a plant try it. If it lives great, if not you've gained some wonderful experience.

Most importantly, pay attention to Miss Lawrence when she describes the 'old timey gardens' -- some say there is nothing new under the sun, and though that might not be entirely correct, many of the old plant forms she discusses are still extant.

Illustrations may not be satisfactory
This is a charming book that is extremely valuable for gardeners in Zone 7. The copy in my local library has delicate color illustrations that added a lot to my enjoyment of the book, but the paperback I ordered new from Amazon.com had muddy black-and white versions of the original illustrations. (I don't know if the hardcover pictures are in color.) I've managed to find used copies with color illustrations.