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Modern Library Gardening
In the Land of the Blue Poppies: The Collected Plant-Hunting Writings of Frank Kingdon Ward
A Modern Library Paperback Original
During the first years of the twentieth century, the British plant collector and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward went on twenty-four impossibly daring expeditions throughout Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia, in search of rare and elusive species of plants. He was responsible for the discovery of numerous varieties previously unknown in Europe and America, including the legendary Tibetan blue poppy, and the introduction of their seeds into the world’s gardens. Kingdon Ward’s accounts capture all the romance of his wildly adventurous expeditions, whether he was swinging across a bottomless gorge on a cable of twisted bamboo strands or clambering across a rocky scree in fear of an impending avalanche. Drawn from writings out of print for almost seventy-five years, this new collection, edited and introduced by professional horticulturalist and House & Garden columnist Tom Christopher, returns Kingdon Ward to his deserved place in the literature of discovery and the literature of the garden.
During the first years of the twentieth century, the British plant collector and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward went on twenty-four impossibly daring expeditions throughout Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia, in search of rare and elusive species of plants. He was responsible for the discovery of numerous varieties previously unknown in Europe and America, including the legendary Tibetan blue poppy, and the introduction of their seeds into the world’s gardens. Kingdon Ward’s accounts capture all the romance of his wildly adventurous expeditions, whether he was swinging across a bottomless gorge on a cable of twisted bamboo strands or clambering across a rocky scree in fear of an impending avalanche. Drawn from writings out of print for almost seventy-five years, this new collection, edited and introduced by professional horticulturalist and House & Garden columnist Tom Christopher, returns Kingdon Ward to his deserved place in the literature of discovery and the literature of the garden.
259 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1913
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 27, 2016
A remarkable and excellent book. Kingdon-Ward made 24 [or 25] daring and it seems exhilarating, if occasionally terrifying, expeditions thru the Himalayas of Tibet, China, and southeast Asia in the early years of the 20th century. He was a plant hunter in search of new plant species/varieties for the ever plant hungry west. The eponymous blue poppy (Meconopsis) is mentioned only once, on pg 145. BP is a patched together book, chunks torn from thither and yon from KW's many other books by an editor, although it reads pretty smoothly. KW is an excellent writer who had more than the touch of a poet in him.
January 10, 2009
It's dangerous to ride a donkey after dark in Tibet.
November 3, 2019
I tried out this wonderfully nerdy nature book club sponsored by Scott Arborteum. The selection was one from the Modern Library Gardening Series curated by Michael Pollan. Frank Kingdon Ward is a plant hunter come to the Himalayas and beyond to discover and bring back interesting species for English gardens. Edited and stitched together willy-nilly from Ward’s various 1920’s and 30’s plant exploration journals, the flow is odd, but the effect is one of stunning beauty, exotic detail, endurance and anecdotal amusement.
As an aside, an interesting sociological aspect of this read was how the context of the cultural moment shaped FKW’s views and behaviors. There was an uncomfortableness at times in the posturing of position and oversimplified views of local people and women.
For some sadly, these perspectives haven’t much evolved. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but wonder what widely accepted norms of our times (and of myself personally) future generations might look upon us with discomfort and sadness.
As an aside, an interesting sociological aspect of this read was how the context of the cultural moment shaped FKW’s views and behaviors. There was an uncomfortableness at times in the posturing of position and oversimplified views of local people and women.
For some sadly, these perspectives haven’t much evolved. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but wonder what widely accepted norms of our times (and of myself personally) future generations might look upon us with discomfort and sadness.
April 29, 2024
I found this 1913 book about planthunter Kingdon Ward's journeys through Tibet and China to be surprisingly readable. It's a lot more dense than a modern travelogue would be, and there are some seriously dated attitudes, but overall, it's an engaging read.
The perils and hardships of those early botanical explorers are certainly brought home by his descriptions of the various treks to remote locations. There are numerous close shaves, including one incident where he is lost in the forest for a couple of days. While he does display the patronising attitude toward 'locals' that was so common among Westerners of his day, at the same time, he does attempt to show some respect to the indigenous people and their beliefs. He also seems to have been a kindly man - toward the end of a gruelling journey, he goes short of food to ensure that one of his servants, who is sick, gets the nourishment he needs. I suspect this would not have been normal behaviour among many travellers of that time who often seem very entitled in their attitude toward local guides and porters.
There are sections which consist largely of plant descriptions, so I would say this book probably has most appeal to botanists or gardeners with an interest in the history of planthunting. But it will also be of interest to anyone interested in travel diaries of the period.
The perils and hardships of those early botanical explorers are certainly brought home by his descriptions of the various treks to remote locations. There are numerous close shaves, including one incident where he is lost in the forest for a couple of days. While he does display the patronising attitude toward 'locals' that was so common among Westerners of his day, at the same time, he does attempt to show some respect to the indigenous people and their beliefs. He also seems to have been a kindly man - toward the end of a gruelling journey, he goes short of food to ensure that one of his servants, who is sick, gets the nourishment he needs. I suspect this would not have been normal behaviour among many travellers of that time who often seem very entitled in their attitude toward local guides and porters.
There are sections which consist largely of plant descriptions, so I would say this book probably has most appeal to botanists or gardeners with an interest in the history of planthunting. But it will also be of interest to anyone interested in travel diaries of the period.
May 31, 2020
Excerpts from the writings of Frank Kingdon-Ward, a botanical collector who was active in the early twentieth century, and had concentrated on Tibet, North Western China, Myanmar and northern India. While Kingdon-Ward wrote 25 books, Christopher has extracted a subset that is representative of his writings. The excerpts cover such aspects of his travels as the people and the logistics of travel, including food and accommodation.
Kingdon-Ward was primarily a collector whose intent was to obtain seeds of desirable plants such that they could be introduced back to England. His strategy is to search for plants through the growing season, but return to them in the autumn to collect the seeds. He notes that early snow is a tragedy as then seeds cannot be collected.
The chapter on Landscapes is particularly good, providing great descriptions of the wild. As an example, he notes that "Screes are the mountain's rubbish heap. the chips and splinters left over from the carving of the earth ...", but then goes on to say "But the high alpine screes are the home of some of the finest flowers imaginable."
Kingdon-Ward was primarily a collector whose intent was to obtain seeds of desirable plants such that they could be introduced back to England. His strategy is to search for plants through the growing season, but return to them in the autumn to collect the seeds. He notes that early snow is a tragedy as then seeds cannot be collected.
The chapter on Landscapes is particularly good, providing great descriptions of the wild. As an example, he notes that "Screes are the mountain's rubbish heap. the chips and splinters left over from the carving of the earth ...", but then goes on to say "But the high alpine screes are the home of some of the finest flowers imaginable."
February 4, 2024
What a great snapshot in time of an adventuring plant collector!
December 20, 2013
This book have an uncommon appearance as compared to standard or conventional paperbacks. It more closely resembles a diary.
In the far south eastern Tibet is the Yunan province where lies the world heritage site of "Three parallel rivers." Here three mighty asian rivers Salween, Mekong and Jin-sha the source tributary of Yangtze run roughly parallel to each other for a distance more than 300 kilometers. Along with three in further west in Burma runs Irrawaddy through deep gorges and river Tsangpo Brahmaputra as this enters India.
This book describes the authors journeys for plant seed collection starting from the banks of Irrawaddi in northern Burma through the valleys and mountains to Yangtze and return. This is the account of author's journeys in 1911-1912. This book is a good account of the flora and fauna of the regions and a comparison. The book deals in deeper with the geographic aspects for the changes in flora and fauna in the regions. But it is not a geography or botanical text either. The author puts a light on the people of the region, the tribals, their culture, their origin, the religion. This book is good account of the travels through a vast and rarely accessed country, the nature and the people.
This book however needs a good attention to read through unlike common simple travelogues. The reader should get absorbed into the book completely to get the original reward of a good reading.
The unabridged book also contains the survey maps and a good collection of black and white photographs of the traversed region.
In the far south eastern Tibet is the Yunan province where lies the world heritage site of "Three parallel rivers." Here three mighty asian rivers Salween, Mekong and Jin-sha the source tributary of Yangtze run roughly parallel to each other for a distance more than 300 kilometers. Along with three in further west in Burma runs Irrawaddy through deep gorges and river Tsangpo Brahmaputra as this enters India.
This book describes the authors journeys for plant seed collection starting from the banks of Irrawaddi in northern Burma through the valleys and mountains to Yangtze and return. This is the account of author's journeys in 1911-1912. This book is a good account of the flora and fauna of the regions and a comparison. The book deals in deeper with the geographic aspects for the changes in flora and fauna in the regions. But it is not a geography or botanical text either. The author puts a light on the people of the region, the tribals, their culture, their origin, the religion. This book is good account of the travels through a vast and rarely accessed country, the nature and the people.
This book however needs a good attention to read through unlike common simple travelogues. The reader should get absorbed into the book completely to get the original reward of a good reading.
The unabridged book also contains the survey maps and a good collection of black and white photographs of the traversed region.
June 8, 2021
I enjoy early travelogues, and this one shows how far people have come from consumers of other cultures to actually engaging. It really brought his scientific credibility down a notch or 100 when he went into detail about whether he found the local women in each place he visited attractive or not.
The botany and descriptions of the locations were very interesting though, and I had my phone at the ready looking up plant species the whole time. It would be very neat to have an integrated copy of this where the pictures popped up in kindle when you click on them.
The botany and descriptions of the locations were very interesting though, and I had my phone at the ready looking up plant species the whole time. It would be very neat to have an integrated copy of this where the pictures popped up in kindle when you click on them.
July 25, 2024
Der Autor ist zu Zeiten der chinesischen Revolution 1911/12 in Südchina und Osttibet herumgereist, vor allem um die lokale Flora zu erforschen und Samen für westliche botanische Gärten zu sammeln.
In meiner Taschenbuchversion von 1941 sind leider keine der Karten und Zeichnungen enthalten.
Es ist auf jeden Fall ein sehr kurzweiliger Reisebericht mit Fokus auf der lokalen Pflanzenwelt, gegen Ende mit zunehmenden Wirren des sich ausbreitenden Konflikts.
In meiner Taschenbuchversion von 1941 sind leider keine der Karten und Zeichnungen enthalten.
Es ist auf jeden Fall ein sehr kurzweiliger Reisebericht mit Fokus auf der lokalen Pflanzenwelt, gegen Ende mit zunehmenden Wirren des sich ausbreitenden Konflikts.
June 30, 2011
So many of our beautiful landscape plants have a Chinese or Asian origin. Here is the story of a fellow who made a living traveling to far away places to collect seeds, sometimes at grave personal risk. Excellent read for plant lover like me.
February 24, 2016
Like reading a crazy journal
A well written very descriptive accounting of an explorers flower species passion, ignited with many stories and tales of how to survive in the wild and wooly mountains.
A well written very descriptive accounting of an explorers flower species passion, ignited with many stories and tales of how to survive in the wild and wooly mountains.
June 24, 2018
The second of Kingdon-Wards traveling, plant-hunting, just plain old adventuring books, and a delight at that.
October 16, 2014
Very cool
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews