In Your Garden

by Vita Sackville-West

From 1946, the poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West wrote a gardening column in the Observer. The columns were later collected into a set of books published between 1951 and 1958. Vita's extensive gardening knowledge, her intense passion for her subject and her lively literary flair make these classics of garden writing essential for any serious gardener's bookshelf. Volume 1 in a series of four anthologies reproducing the lively gardening columns by Vita Sackville-West. This volume covers 1946–1950.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Nature, Classics

240 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 1996

About the author

Novels of British writer Victoria Mary Sackville-West, known as Vita, include The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931).

This prolific English author, poet, and memoirist in the early 20th century lived not so privately.
While married to the diplomat Harold Nicolson, she conducted a series of scandalous amorous liaisons with many women, including the brilliant Virginia Woolf. They had an open marriage. Both Sackville-West and her husband had same-sex relationships. Her exuberant aristocratic life was one of inordinate privilege and way ahead of her time. She frequently traveled to Europe in the company of one or the other of her lovers and often dressed as a man to be able to gain access to places where only the couples could go. Gardening, like writing, was a passion Vita cherished with the certainty of a vocation: she wrote books on the topic and constructed the gardens of the castle of Sissinghurst, one of England's most beautiful gardens at her home.

She published her first book Poems of East and West in 1917. She followed this with a novel, Heritage, in 1919. A second novel, The Heir (1922), dealt with her feelings about her family. Her next book, Knole and the Sackvilles (1922), covered her family history. The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931) are perhaps her best known novels today. In the latter, the elderly Lady Slane courageously embraces a long suppressed sense of freedom and whimsy after a lifetime of convention. In 1948 she was appointed a Companion of Honour for her services to literature. She continued to develop her garden at Sissinghurst Castle and for many years wrote a weekly gardening column for The Observer. In 1955 she was awarded the gold Veitch medal of the Royal Horticultural Society. In her last decade she published a further biography, Daughter of France (1959) and a final novel, No Signposts in the Sea (1961).

She died of cancer on June 2, 1962.

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of V. Sackville-West's articles on plants and gardening. It's definitely not a practical guide (and I'm sure she had gardeners on her estate) but it's the perfect book to read to get inspired about your own gardening projects. It's most helpful to read in the late fall or winter, to dream up new schemes for spring planting. Also fun if you like "period" writing - nobody writes how-to pieces in this style anymore (possibly for good reason!)

[Velvetink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally delightful. A collection of Vita's articles about her garden at Sissinghurst...the famous white garden. I've read about the white garden before this book & have tried to grow one in each place I've lived (on a minor minor scale). Most of my efforts were EPIC fails due to the climate in Australia. Still as one's knowledge of gardening grows so does your garden. I'd recommend this for anyone interested in garden design or in Vita herself.

[Michelle Ritchie-haddow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great fun. Vita Sackville-West has a super sense of humor, and as we all know, vast knowledge about plants and gardening in England. Her descriptions of designs and plants are lovely. Great reading for winter. My favorite quote from the book: "A plant-token (gift certificate) is a real gift from heaven; it represents an extravagance one might hesitate to commit for oneself; a luxury, an extra, a treat. One has no alternative, for, unlike a cheque, one cannot virtuously put it to the reduction of one's overdraft." I love it. One's overdraft...a good way to think about debt, yes?

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compilation of her gardening articles in the London Times...delightful..her enthusiasim is contagious. For those of you who have seen her home, Sissinghurst and the White Garden...it is so interesting to read about when she was just thinking about how to put it all together...

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the year long writings of VS-W which I am reading month by month. Very entertaining and informative.

[Sarah]

loved it

[Nancy]

loved it

[Dawn Myrix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gardener or not, if you are looking for wonderful recommendations on year-round color and fragrance, read this. Keep the book in one hand and your favorite search device In the other and find images of the plants described. You will discover great and wonderful things. If you are like me, you will also acquire and plant some of them for the enjoyment of all!

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having visited Sissinghurst very recently, I enjoyed reading the very personal account of Vita Sackville-West and her ideas behind some of the design and planting in the garden.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of newspaper columns written by Vita Sackville-West. I felt as if I was having a conversation with her. Advice. Opinions. Observations. loved it!

[Sacha]

In Seed to Dust

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really a lovely book, more of a personal essay, and botanalog - but I enjoyed the quiet contemplation that Sackville-West brought to her shared experience of English gardening of her time.