Book Bits, chapter one

In January I realized I'd completed the last book review I owed anyone and thus I was free to read whatever I wanted. I could read and not think about writing up a review or talking about the book, oh the freedom! Well, then as I read I thought about how I wanted to share a quote or two, or that more people should know about the book, etc, etc—you know where this is going right? I decided to start a series of posts called "Book Bits" and this is chapter one. These posts will cover multiple books and include just a few impressions I had of each one. It will be fun! Here we go... first up, Chasing Eden (Timber Press, 2020).

This book is a glimpse into a type of gardening I will never know, summed up by this quote... "When you switch your thinking to considering your pool as a garden feature rather than as a leisure destination, all kinds of wonderful things can happen."Most of us will never experience gardening at the scale of Hortulus Farm, the wealth involved, although I must say the zipties were a surprise! "Bamboo is our material of choice for the construction of auxiliary tuteurs and teepees, easily fabricated with a handsaw and a packet of zipties."...

I thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in this book and the idea of gardening on an estate.

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Next: Garden People: The Photographs of Valerie Finnis...

This book had been on my Amazon wish list for years, almost 10 if we're getting specific, I finally received it as a Christmas gift this year. It was written in 2007 by Ursula Buchan with photographs taken by Valerie Finnis from the mid-1950s on (Valerie passed away in October of 2006). I cannot begin to convey how charming the photos in this book are—a glimpse at another age for sure—and they are the reason to open the book's pages. For example here is Cecily 'Parsley' Mure watering her alpine trough in an elegant silk dress...

You definitely get the feeling some folks dressed to have their photo taken (I'm looking at you Parsley!) However others appear to be doing actual garden labor in clothing we would consider our fancy attire. There are also many interesting things to read in between the photos. 

For example: "From 1955, with her first expensive camera, plant photography became a major interest and Valerie's talents were soon recognized: Dr Warburg, one of the authors of the standard work, Flora of the British Isles, commissioned photographs for an article he was writing on crocuses. By this time her father was ill, and she was making frequent journeys to Reigate to visit him. She needed extra money, so sent two rolls of film to the greeting card company, Gordon Fraser; they were all accepted. The music company E.M,I. bought 12 transparencies for record sleeves, and J. Walter Thompson used her pictures of vegetables in advertisements for fertilizer. She was launched as a photographer, even though, as she said, 'I never took more than one exposure because it was too expensive'. One exposure! Can you imagine? Digital photography has ruined us for that sort of thinking and skill.

This photo, of Lady Birley may be the best known from the book.

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The third and final book I will mention in this post is South African Erythrinas, by Esmé Franklin Hennessy—published in 1972 by The Natal Branch of the Wildlife Protection and Conservation Society of South Africa. 

This book is a work of art. I wish I could remember exactly where I picked it up, I know it was somewhere in Southern California, I can tell you paid just $6 for it used, of course. 

Esmé Franklin Hennessy not only illustrated the entire book, but she also wrote the plant descriptions and much more. I get the sense she is force to be reckoned with, from the front inside cover: "Eseme Frances Franklin was born on the 30th of August, 1933, at Umzinto, Natal. She was educated at the Umzinto Government School, Durban Girls' College, and Natal University, Pietermaritzburg. Her family have been in Natal since 1850 and were among the original British Settlers of the Colony of Natal.