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Tasha Tudor's Garden
Tasha Tudor's poignant art has fascinated adults and children for decades. Her nineteenth-century New England lifestyle is legendary. Gardeners are especially intrigued by the profusion of antique flowers -- spectacular poppies, six-foot foxgloves, and intoxicating peonies -- in the cottage gardens surrounding her hand-hewn house. Until now we've only caught glimpses of Tasha Tudor's landscape. In this gorgeous book, two of her friends, the garden writer Tovah Martin and the photographer Richard Brown, take us into the magical garden and then behind the scenes. As we revel in the bedlam of Johnny-jump-ups and cinnamon pinks, the intricacy of the formal peony garden, and the voluptuousness of her heirloom roses, we also learn Tasha's gardening secrets. How does she coax forth her finicky camellia blossoms in the dead of a Vermont winter? How does she train that fantastic topiary to model for her artwork? How can she keep her crown imperials from tumbling in the winds? Tasha's garden reflects a wealth of family lore, perfected through the years and years of working the soil. We may be dazzled by the beauty of the garden, but we come away from this book with practical ideas about improving our own plots of land. "Paradise on earth" is how Tasha describes her garden, and along with the flowers and the vegetables that provide her food, her paradise is filled with an enchanting menagerie -- corgies, Nubian goats, cats, chickens, fantail doves, and forty or more exotic finches, cockatiels, canaries, nightingales, and parrots, which inhabit her collection of antique cages. Tasha's beautiful watercolors and her enchanting anecdotes color this sublimely beautiful book.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published October 5, 1994
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844 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
September 10, 2014
Once upon a time in a little town in Vermont, an artist named Tasha Tudor created a fantasy world--a house and a garden lost in time. This magnificently illustrated book tells the story.
The picture above is of the garden at its glorious June peak, but there is beauty in all the seasons and part of what I love about this book is that it starts in the deep, dark cold of the New England winter when great snow drifts mean tunneling out through the back door to give the corgis' their romp in the snow. I'll post some pictures in the comments section below to give you a little preview.
Tasha Tudor's garden, home, menagerie, collections of antique dresses--not to mention the lady herself--are all highly photogenic. By the end of the book I was still left wondering what possessed this little woman to create and live so fully in a world and time of her own imagining--and how she found the strength to do everything she did.
January 10, 2014
"Tasha never wastes a leaf: The spoils are fed to the hens. And that, in a nutshell is Tasha's philosophy of life. Not a moment, not an action, not a leaf is ever wasted."
I love Tasha's way of thinking, and her way of life in general. This book was nothing but inspiring, full of beautiful photography of her lush gardens, photographed by Richard W. Brown, and Tasha's personal anecdotes, written and told by Tovah Martin.
One of my favorites was that Tasha doesn't shovel her walkways during the winter, and instead prefers to put on her snowshoes and trudge on through with her corgi dogs! She finds it to be a waste of time and energy. Besides, a woman of her advanced years doesn't need to be snow shoveling anyways...
Tasha shares some of her secrets to keeping such beautiful gardens, including her concoction of manure tea, which she uses to feed her plants. Clearly, her concoction works, as the photography shows. I plan to follow her advice.
Not only a lovely book to showcase on your coffee table, but full of beautiful images to admire. I gave this book 5/5 stars!
I love Tasha's way of thinking, and her way of life in general. This book was nothing but inspiring, full of beautiful photography of her lush gardens, photographed by Richard W. Brown, and Tasha's personal anecdotes, written and told by Tovah Martin.
One of my favorites was that Tasha doesn't shovel her walkways during the winter, and instead prefers to put on her snowshoes and trudge on through with her corgi dogs! She finds it to be a waste of time and energy. Besides, a woman of her advanced years doesn't need to be snow shoveling anyways...
Tasha shares some of her secrets to keeping such beautiful gardens, including her concoction of manure tea, which she uses to feed her plants. Clearly, her concoction works, as the photography shows. I plan to follow her advice.
Not only a lovely book to showcase on your coffee table, but full of beautiful images to admire. I gave this book 5/5 stars!
March 24, 2010
The Joy of Beauty
Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong century. I sometimes fantasize about living in a hand-hewn cozy cottage with a wood-fired cooking stove apart from the noise and congestion of city life. I would love to bake my own bread, raise my own laying hens, milk my own nanny goats and make yogurt and cheese. I would love to rely solely on my hardy pioneer stock and bypass technology (save for the ease with which I could obtain the basic necessities of life…and probably indoor plumbing…and central heating). Hey, it’s my fantasy world.
Yet, here I am, blogging mommy; a Twittering, Facebooking, Linkedin technology embracing 21st century inhabitant.
There are some modern pleasures to which I haven’t succumbed. We don’t have cable or satellite television or a flat-screened TV. I don’t have an iPhone, iPod, Blackberry or a space-aged looking device permanently stuck to my ear.
I do bake my own bread from time to time with grain that I grind myself (in a modern, convenient and easy-to-use electric grinder). I make my own yogurt occasionally and I have sour dough starter on my kitchen counter. I grow an excessively huge vegetable garden each summer, with varying degrees of success and I like to make jams, jellies, pickles and preserves with the abundance. I sew, knit, quilt, cut my kids' hair and in general try to make the world a more beautiful place. (I said try.)
I sometimes feel torn between the two worlds—my fantasy world, which I would love to inhabit, and the real world that I actually do inhabit.
My recent musings were brought on because I just finished reading
Tasha Tudor's Garden, by Tovah Martin, which is profusely illustrated with stunning photographs of Tudor’s Vermont hilltop home and her 250-acre botanical heaven-on-earth. (An aside for those of you who are ignorant of Tasha Tudor, as was my husband. His response when I told him I was reading a book about Tasha Tudor was, “Who’s Tasha Tudor?” This from the man with whom you never, ever want to play Trivial Pursuit. He’s got places, dates and geographic locations permanently etched in his brain. Need to know the capital of Burkina Faso? The capital is Ouagoudou. It used to be called Upper Volta, he tells me. Anyway, Tasha Tudor was a prolific illustrator whose illustrations transport you to another time and place. She was born in 1915 and died just recently, in June 2008. Although she lived in the 20th century, her lifestyle, dress, home and garden were deeply rooted in the 19th century, if not earlier).
This is a visually stunning book that transports the reader to another time and place. I would liked to have read more about Tasha Tudor, but this book really isn’t about her, it’s about her garden, and ultimately about beauty. The pictures transported me to a time and place that is so different from my own, which perhaps is why I find it so appealing. My Colorado garden could never compare to her Vermont hilltop garden. She has moisture and rich soil whereas I have dry clay and rock. She evidently relies on nature to water her garden most of the time, whereas I pay double for Arvada water since I live outside city limits. Because of this, if you come see my garden in late July or August, you’ll usually find my grass a dull green, if not brown-tinged because I’ve diverted all the precious water to the vegetables.
I was disappointed the book didn’t have pictures of her heated greenhouse. It made mention of it’s lovely camellias which brighten her home in the winter, but no pictures. I can only suspect the greenhouse doesn’t follow the proscriptions of imitating 19th century. It’s probably the technological reason for the stunning beauty of her flowers.
Really, the book is about beauty and not about living a certain lifestyle. Her eccentric dress and lack of 21st century technology may be about her own quirkiness, but they are also beautiful in themselves. Because she spent so much time nurturing her garden by hand, collecting and arranging lovely vases of flowers and painting the exquisite scenes before her, we, the readers, get to enjoy the many images of beauty.
Technology (like this blog I’m writing right now) has done much to spread ideas and information. But we can’t live authentic lives if we don’t allow ourselves to be nurtured by beauty. It easy to be distracted by the technology itself: flashy images, surround sound, instant access. But without beauty in our lives, we are only half-human. If I learned one thing from this charming book, it is that I need to be more mindful of the beauty around me; to nurture and protect it like Tasha nurtured and protected her lilies, roses, peonies, poppies and even the lowly pansies. She cared deeply about each of her botanicals, often calling them by name and always ready to give a history of their planting and heritage. When a frost was predicted, she’d hasten outside to cover the vines of her Concord grapes with laundry, or she’d lay a deep layer of mulch around a tender plant like a mother covers her sleeping child with a blanket at night. Tasha Tudor understood beauty and our human need for it.
Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong century. I sometimes fantasize about living in a hand-hewn cozy cottage with a wood-fired cooking stove apart from the noise and congestion of city life. I would love to bake my own bread, raise my own laying hens, milk my own nanny goats and make yogurt and cheese. I would love to rely solely on my hardy pioneer stock and bypass technology (save for the ease with which I could obtain the basic necessities of life…and probably indoor plumbing…and central heating). Hey, it’s my fantasy world.
Yet, here I am, blogging mommy; a Twittering, Facebooking, Linkedin technology embracing 21st century inhabitant.
There are some modern pleasures to which I haven’t succumbed. We don’t have cable or satellite television or a flat-screened TV. I don’t have an iPhone, iPod, Blackberry or a space-aged looking device permanently stuck to my ear.
I do bake my own bread from time to time with grain that I grind myself (in a modern, convenient and easy-to-use electric grinder). I make my own yogurt occasionally and I have sour dough starter on my kitchen counter. I grow an excessively huge vegetable garden each summer, with varying degrees of success and I like to make jams, jellies, pickles and preserves with the abundance. I sew, knit, quilt, cut my kids' hair and in general try to make the world a more beautiful place. (I said try.)
I sometimes feel torn between the two worlds—my fantasy world, which I would love to inhabit, and the real world that I actually do inhabit.
My recent musings were brought on because I just finished reading
Tasha Tudor's Garden, by Tovah Martin, which is profusely illustrated with stunning photographs of Tudor’s Vermont hilltop home and her 250-acre botanical heaven-on-earth. (An aside for those of you who are ignorant of Tasha Tudor, as was my husband. His response when I told him I was reading a book about Tasha Tudor was, “Who’s Tasha Tudor?” This from the man with whom you never, ever want to play Trivial Pursuit. He’s got places, dates and geographic locations permanently etched in his brain. Need to know the capital of Burkina Faso? The capital is Ouagoudou. It used to be called Upper Volta, he tells me. Anyway, Tasha Tudor was a prolific illustrator whose illustrations transport you to another time and place. She was born in 1915 and died just recently, in June 2008. Although she lived in the 20th century, her lifestyle, dress, home and garden were deeply rooted in the 19th century, if not earlier).
This is a visually stunning book that transports the reader to another time and place. I would liked to have read more about Tasha Tudor, but this book really isn’t about her, it’s about her garden, and ultimately about beauty. The pictures transported me to a time and place that is so different from my own, which perhaps is why I find it so appealing. My Colorado garden could never compare to her Vermont hilltop garden. She has moisture and rich soil whereas I have dry clay and rock. She evidently relies on nature to water her garden most of the time, whereas I pay double for Arvada water since I live outside city limits. Because of this, if you come see my garden in late July or August, you’ll usually find my grass a dull green, if not brown-tinged because I’ve diverted all the precious water to the vegetables.
I was disappointed the book didn’t have pictures of her heated greenhouse. It made mention of it’s lovely camellias which brighten her home in the winter, but no pictures. I can only suspect the greenhouse doesn’t follow the proscriptions of imitating 19th century. It’s probably the technological reason for the stunning beauty of her flowers.
Really, the book is about beauty and not about living a certain lifestyle. Her eccentric dress and lack of 21st century technology may be about her own quirkiness, but they are also beautiful in themselves. Because she spent so much time nurturing her garden by hand, collecting and arranging lovely vases of flowers and painting the exquisite scenes before her, we, the readers, get to enjoy the many images of beauty.
Technology (like this blog I’m writing right now) has done much to spread ideas and information. But we can’t live authentic lives if we don’t allow ourselves to be nurtured by beauty. It easy to be distracted by the technology itself: flashy images, surround sound, instant access. But without beauty in our lives, we are only half-human. If I learned one thing from this charming book, it is that I need to be more mindful of the beauty around me; to nurture and protect it like Tasha nurtured and protected her lilies, roses, peonies, poppies and even the lowly pansies. She cared deeply about each of her botanicals, often calling them by name and always ready to give a history of their planting and heritage. When a frost was predicted, she’d hasten outside to cover the vines of her Concord grapes with laundry, or she’d lay a deep layer of mulch around a tender plant like a mother covers her sleeping child with a blanket at night. Tasha Tudor understood beauty and our human need for it.
August 1, 2023
Well, at least I know what I want to be when I grow up. Goodness, her garden and her work ethic are impressive. Wonderful book to feed the imagination.
February 15, 2019
I wasn't sure who Tasha Tudor was when I requested this from the library, but I'd heard good things about this book, and I'm a sucker for the gardens.
From this I gathered she was a fierce little old lady with a passion for living a simple life with friends, food, family, and flowers. Her paintings and drawings are lovely, and her people are fiercely loyal.
I didn't really learn anything gardeny ... this felt like a vanity project from people who loved her.
All in all a simple little walk through a garden.
From this I gathered she was a fierce little old lady with a passion for living a simple life with friends, food, family, and flowers. Her paintings and drawings are lovely, and her people are fiercely loyal.
I didn't really learn anything gardeny ... this felt like a vanity project from people who loved her.
All in all a simple little walk through a garden.
November 7, 2008
Ms. Tudor passed away this past summer.I have loved her illustrations since my grandmother introduced them to me as a child--my first book of "Secret Garden" was illustrated by Tasha Tudor. Hearing about her passing I pulled out my collection of books chronicling her interesting way of life and enjoyed them all over again.
April 19, 2022
4.5🌟 I adored this book! I loved learning more about Tasha Tudor and, especially, seeing all of the magical and extraordinary flowers in her garden. The photography is the best I've ever seen and, in some of the photos, it's almost as if I'm watching Tasha Tudor go about her garden through a window. I may just find another copy of this book so that I can take the photos out to add to picture frames. Absolutely gorgeous!
I was a little disappointed in the text, though. It seems as if the author is a more of a garden person than a writer and I found it a little hard to read. Or, at least, the text didn't flow. There were a lot of detailed garden and flower descriptions, but they were more overwhelming (if you're not an expert gardener) and my brain felt saturated trying to imagine all that she was trying to convey.
Overall, it was a joy to read before bed and I looked forward to every glossy, full color, and exquisite page. The World of Tasha Tudor was a bit more enjoyable because the photographer just added Tasha's own words to go with the photos instead of there being a lot of explanation. (But, it may be just because I'm only a very beginner gardener.)
Highly recommended and worth buying, if only for the photographs. So lovely!
I was a little disappointed in the text, though. It seems as if the author is a more of a garden person than a writer and I found it a little hard to read. Or, at least, the text didn't flow. There were a lot of detailed garden and flower descriptions, but they were more overwhelming (if you're not an expert gardener) and my brain felt saturated trying to imagine all that she was trying to convey.
Overall, it was a joy to read before bed and I looked forward to every glossy, full color, and exquisite page. The World of Tasha Tudor was a bit more enjoyable because the photographer just added Tasha's own words to go with the photos instead of there being a lot of explanation. (But, it may be just because I'm only a very beginner gardener.)
Highly recommended and worth buying, if only for the photographs. So lovely!
March 5, 2025
Tasha Tudor’s Garden is a visually stunning book, and I absolutely adored the photos. They were charming, cozy, and completely drew me into the lush fantasy of Tasha and her garden. She may just be the original cottagecore girly, and I am so ready for my Tasha Tudor era.
The writing is immersive, though occasionally repetitive and long-winded. Readers without much knowledge of flowers and trees might find themselves a bit lost, but I appreciate that the author doesn’t talk down to the audience, instead assuming a well-rounded understanding of gardening.
My biggest struggle, however, was with the formatting. Nearly every page ended with a sentence that continued onto the next, which is fine for most books, but it created a disjointed reading experience when trying to absorb both the words and the images. A little more attention to this aspect would have improved readability, as it occasionally pulled me out of the experience.
Overall, while the formatting could have been better, the book’s atmosphere and visuals make it a true delight. It’s best enjoyed outside with a piping hot pot of tea.
The writing is immersive, though occasionally repetitive and long-winded. Readers without much knowledge of flowers and trees might find themselves a bit lost, but I appreciate that the author doesn’t talk down to the audience, instead assuming a well-rounded understanding of gardening.
My biggest struggle, however, was with the formatting. Nearly every page ended with a sentence that continued onto the next, which is fine for most books, but it created a disjointed reading experience when trying to absorb both the words and the images. A little more attention to this aspect would have improved readability, as it occasionally pulled me out of the experience.
Overall, while the formatting could have been better, the book’s atmosphere and visuals make it a true delight. It’s best enjoyed outside with a piping hot pot of tea.
September 1, 2019
Lovely, but but a bit repetitive. Martin's descriptions of Tudor's life, though, are top-notch.
April 26, 2021
More inspirational than practical.
October 8, 2024
Beauty and practicality meet in Tasha's garden throughout the seasons. This book has given me many ideas!
June 21, 2023
I simply must know more about this wonderful person!
October 17, 2022
Just beautiful!
September 19, 2022
***Updated this in 2022 to five stars just because I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, and I totally bought myself a copy so I can re-read it whenever I need a dose of whimsical inspiration***
I don't know how much the general public would enjoy this book, but I sure loved it! Basically this is your golden ticket to walking into an otherworldly, magical garden and getting to meet the fantasy-like curator behind it. Even though I wished a second edition could be published with more modern photos, I still loved the beautiful photography throughout, and it made me want to literally rip up every scrap of grass on our property and just plant flowers instead :)
I don't know how much the general public would enjoy this book, but I sure loved it! Basically this is your golden ticket to walking into an otherworldly, magical garden and getting to meet the fantasy-like curator behind it. Even though I wished a second edition could be published with more modern photos, I still loved the beautiful photography throughout, and it made me want to literally rip up every scrap of grass on our property and just plant flowers instead :)
December 28, 2020
When it comes to growing, Tasha was brilliant. I love her unfussy New England pluck. I join in her love of old things and old ways. I especially fell in love with growing flowers through this charming yet practical look at her garden. The result of Tasha's garden combined with Tovah's always brilliant writing, is a book that changed the entire trajectory of my life.
January 1, 2022
Love, love, love this book! The photos and snippets of Tasha Tudor's lifestyle and garden contained within this book are so inspiring. I was ready to get out in the garden every time I read a few pages. This book has definitely earned a permanent place on my shelf and I know I'll be flipping through occasionally for years to come.
October 2, 2024
From the gorgeous front cover through each interior page and on to the back cover, "Tasha Tudor's Garden" entranced, enthralled, and thoroughly engaged me. Tudor's, an Irish woman, lifestyle in a long ago New England setting is a journey through her love of the environment, her children, variety of animals, friends and neighbors, and most notably, of her belief in a way of life she knew as a child and brought vibrantly alive in the challenging New England seasons. Cottage gardens surround her home and the authentic dress fashion of a century past embodies her slim being as we accompany her through each season as she tends to her environment, her watercolor paintings, her writings, her cooking from scratch the bounty nature provides each autumn, and so much more. Her beautiful annuals and perennials create a paradise around and in her hand hewn house where beautiful flower arrangements, either forced in winter or fresh from outside, brighten her home through all other seasons.
My heart compares this book a deep dive into the sacred spaces of meditation.
My heart compares this book a deep dive into the sacred spaces of meditation.
March 2, 2019
Its strange to think, but I had never heard of Tasha Tudor until about a month ago. As charming as her artwork is, what really grabbed my attention were the photos I found on pinterest of her garden. All my life, I've had an image in my head of the perfect garden, but I never found it, either in real life, books, television, or social media. Not until I saw Tasha's garden did I get that , "ah ha!" moment. I loved this book. The photos are breathtaking, the writing is charming. This is not a typical gardening book, filled with advice, lists of plants, etc. I still found it deeply inspiring and I'm glad I purchased this book to share with others!
March 16, 2018
Wonderful tabletop book showing her garden! The author has an ongoing story through the season's explaining Tasha Tudor's eccentric ways towards her life and her garden. She was a true naturalist. This was a very relaxing read with visions of how I wish my garden would be! Tasha Tudor is an author and illustrator of many children's books, however, this book only showed a couple of pictures of her by the fireside drawing. The main focus was on her garden and animals. What a good wholesome life!
July 23, 2019
I think I wanted more from this book—it felt like a drawn out interview, which is odd for a book of this size. It gives a slice of life with the celebrated children's illustrator Tasha Tudor without either giving satisfaction with a more complete biography or a better idea of the layout of her property. It would have been nice to have known from the beginning the climate, the acreage, etc. Maybe it was in the introduction, but I missed it until the author brought it up again much later.
You can tell Ms. Tudor is quite the eccentric—but what a garden 😍
You can tell Ms. Tudor is quite the eccentric—but what a garden 😍
April 27, 2021
I love gardening...I love English cottage-style gardens...I love flowers...I love color and scent...I love the mystery of a garden...the beauty and solace...I love Tasha Tudors garden and her way with her garden. She is a gem and the story of her garden and how she tends it is a joy. I never tire of reading this book and the pictures inspire.
June 29, 2017
Charming lady, stunning photos, astounding garden.
July 5, 2017
Усе, що я читала про Ташу Тюдор не розчаровує. Ця книжка переважно присвячена її саду і господарюванню у затишному вікторіанському коттеджі.
Ну, що вам сказати, про такий сад можна тільки мріяти, але, щоб утілити його в життя, треба бути Ташею Тюдор, хоча б почасти. :)
Фотографії до видання розкішні, й те, що вони не скидаються на сучасні цифрові, тільки грає на їхню користь, адже гармоніює із вінтажністю побуту Таші. Ідеальна coffee table book!
Ну, що вам сказати, про такий сад можна тільки мріяти, але, щоб утілити його в життя, треба бути Ташею Тюдор, хоча б почасти. :)
Фотографії до видання розкішні, й те, що вони не скидаються на сучасні цифрові, тільки грає на їхню користь, адже гармоніює із вінтажністю побуту Таші. Ідеальна coffee table book!
October 13, 2017
Wonderful book, gorgeous photos.
February 28, 2018
A wonderful visual read! With meadow like placement of flowers, freeform, in a family garden, very beautiful.
April 28, 2018
This was a delightful book. Beautifully illustrated and enchantingly written.
July 9, 2018
Beautiful book. I love everything Tasha Tudor and this book is lovely
December 8, 2018
Love the simple gorgeous life...
September 3, 2021
I found this lovely book at a book sale. The pictures are beautiful and it tells about Tudor’s eccentricities. It’s more inspiring than helpful with not much actual gardening information.
June 13, 2022
I love love love love this glossy ode to Tasha Tudor’s home and garden - the writing is witty and engaging and you just want to be invited over for tea!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews