Katy Merrington, cultural gardener at The Hepworth Wakefield, rummages through her bookshelves to choose her ultimate list of titles for planting inspiration and plant identification as well as mind-opening essays, explorations and missives on plants
THE GRASMERE JOURNALS
by Dorothy Wordsworth
Oxford Paperbacks (1993) ISBN 978-0192831309
The plants that fill our favourite landscapes can embody the season for us and make a place and moment special. Dorothy Wordsworth captured her love for the plants around her in the journal that she began in May 1800, while sharing Dove Cottage in Grasmere in the Lake District with her brother, the poet William Wordsworth.
The diary was written solely for her brother to enjoy, and it inspired some of his poems. It is made up of snippet sentences that immediately pull you back to the particularity of her day over 200 years ago. She notes down her walks, the weather, the dire poverty of people she meets and the dreary reality of headaches – in a time before paracetamol.
Nevertheless, her spirits are often lifted by the daily observation of plants – the joy at seeing a cherished tree come into leaf, the precise phase of a foxglove flower opening, or the very last primrose to bloom in the orchard in spring.
DEAR FRIEND AND GARDENER: LETTERS ON LIFE AND GARDENING by Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd
Frances Lincoln (2021) ISBN 978-0711255807
I could have chosen many books by the gardening greats Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd, but this volume of letters they wrote to one another in the late 1990s gives a unique opportunity to listen in on their conversation, as they share gardening highs and lows across two years.
They are writing here in later life, with their gardens open to the public. They are very different in character but close friends, not afraid to counter each other’s opinions. You can sense the twinkle in their eyes, as they needle each other cheekily, on questions such as irrigation, or who has produced the best carrots.
You feel as if you are privy to the emotional journey that plant growing takes you on throughout the year – as you start with a strategy and then see how each move plays out. The letter format works well for capturing this seasonal rhythm of work and reflection. It is also reassuring to know that like all gardeners, they are totally obsessed with the weather.
COLLINS WILD FLOWER GUIDE by David Streeter, illustrated by Christina Hart-Davies, Aud
