Gardener's Nightcap

by Muriel Stuart

This work is indeed a ‘nightcap’: a soothing tonic to take in small doses just before bed. The subjects covered are many and variegated. They include: Meadow Saffron, Dark Ladies, Better Goose-berries, Good King Henry (‘quite a good substitute for asparagus’), The Wild Comes Back and Phlox Failure. Each of these pieces is only a few lines in length yet tells the gardener far more than extensive essays or manuals.

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening, Classics, British Literature

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Muriel Stuart (1885 - 1967), née Irwin, was a poet and gardening writer. Her first collections of poetry appeared in 1916 and 1918, and three more were published in the early 1920s. In the 1930s she published two books on gardening, Fool's Garden and Gardener's Nightcap.

Reviews

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great little bedside table book of essays on gardening.

[Mary Durrant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book to dip in and out of!
Would have loved it to have been illustrated!

[Gina House · Rating 3 out of 5]

A informative and charming book about gardening. I would have enjoyed the book more if I was a an actual gardener or a person with more knowledge about gardening. I found the Latin names mentioned in almost every entry overwhelming and, with no illustrations to accompany this book, it would have been more like a job of taking notes and researching in order to understand more fully.

I loved the entries for rose jam, choosing logs for fires and all of the how-to, practical type entries. If only each of the Latin-named floral and plant entries had even black and white photos or illustrations. Then, this book would have been a dream for me!

I'm more of an observational gardener (though I do have a very small herb and flower garden, along with five rose bushes that I love) and I adore reading about gardens. But, this book was a bit beyond me, even though the writing was simple and easy to read.

I don't think I would read this book again, but I'm glad to have this Persephone book in my collection. This is a lovely edition and I did find some of the entries fascinating.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love gardening books, and this has some charm, but all the Latin names slowed it way down.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pleasingly designed collection of short observations and suggestions is intended for English gardeners, but even a non-English non-gardener like me can enjoy the supple prose and the beautiful end papers and illustrations, and might even come away a little wiser than before.

“People who ‘love flowers’ without any discrimination are as tiresome as people who ‘like everybody’.”

“Rosemary has, I think, one of the most fascinating of perfumes, at once spicy and sweet. Its small, lavender flowers are inconspicuous, but brush it with your fingers in passing, and how rich a perfume lingers on your hand.”

“There are flowers which resent disturbance. They have builded great beauty, compact, fragile, complicated; taking months, perhaps years of secret labor to produce their finished work of art. Why should they not resent being torn limb from limb between the prongs of forks, or being wrenched out like a drawn tooth?”

“No, I do not envy the possessor of a old and beautiful garden, so long as I may walk in it. But to walk in a garden is not to work in it. And work is the first, last, best delight of gardening.”

[Karen Mace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a fabulous little book perfect for any gardener! It was full of interesting facts, very handy hints and the authors' own views on the world of gardening and found myself searching out online many of the plants mentioned as to get a feeling of what she was describing, so some illustrations would have been a lovely addition!

Will definitely be picking this book up again - it's perfect for dipping in and out of! Really enjoyable!

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's unusual to read about about gardens and choosing plants for them, with no pictures. The descriptions were good and I enjoyed reading Muriel Stuart's well phrased and sometimes blunt advice ("I cannot endure the tortures of topiary"), but I'm not knowledgeable about plants, so a few sketches would have been a big help. I know one cannot expect photographs in a Persephone book!

I loved some of the ideas. For example, making a "lawn" of sturdy little rock-garden plants of the kind that pop up between paving stones. You'd need a few paving stones for a path, and it wouldn't work if children or pets wanted to play there, but I can picture this looking very good and unusual in a small front garden. And it wouldn't need mowing...

[Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Sophie James · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘"There is an hour just before dark, when the garden resents interference.
Its work, no less than the gardener’s, is done. Do not meddle with the garden at that hour. It demands, as all living creatures demand, a time of silence...’" A lovely book from a former poet. My favourite poem of hers will always be The Seed Shop.

[travelsalongmybookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Persephone book number 66 first published in 1938. Muriel Stuart was the daughter of a Scottish Barrister and worked in publishing. Her poetry was called ‘superlatively good’ by Thomas Hardy. After having children she stopped writing poetry and concentrated on her main love which was gardening. She published Fool’s Garden in 1936 about creating a garden and then this collection followed.

This is a lovely collection of garden writing, which I spent a quiet hour with after finding it in my local Oxfam.
I do love garden writing, it is thoughtful, informative and can shine a light on history in a different way to dry history books

There are some lovely bits of nature writing and gardening tips which I love in this. It’s a hotch potch collection and I can imagine Stuart sitting in the evening or out in her garden during the day jotting down her thoughts, little facts and plants that are interesting for ‘the adventurous gardener.’

Here are a few of my favourite quotes but in all honesty the more I sit with this book, the more I find!

‘At this hour is heard the small, rebukeful sound of the wood pigeon, sitting high in the old tree, complaining as though someone had wronged her.’

‘Many delightful and innocent looking plants are murderers.’

‘A penny placed at the bottom of the case revives flowers marvellously.’

‘Riot of colour’ is a garden cliche.’

‘Every Iris that has a beard wants full sun.’

[Gabrielle Danoux · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'histoire est un peu particulière : Muriel Stuart était une poétesse écossaise du début du siècle dernier, dont on trouve quelques poésies sur Internet (gratuites). Il se trouve qu'elle était aussi avocate et qu'elle s'est mariée. Quelques années plus tard, elle écrivit le livre qui fait l'objet de cette critique, dont le sujet essentiel, voire unique, est le jardinage, sa passion.
Je ne peux pas dire que la poésie y soit absente, ni que le talent de son auteur soit devenu invisible. D'un point de vue pratique, l'apport pour vos tomates ou vos fraises est assez faible et se concentre surtout sur l'aspect esthétique. Une fois encore, c'est loin d'être sans intérêt et j'ai plutôt lu avec plaisir. Mais j'aurais préféré qu'elle continue à écrire des poèmes !

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting short discussions of various flowers and gardening methods. Some is out of date (the author notes changing fashions and that hasn't stopped; nor has scientific research), but some, especially general principles, is useful, and all has a period charm.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

While chock full of great gardening info, even 80+ years after publication, I rather felt this was a knock-off of Beverly Nichols’ “Down the Garden Path” and his other works, right down to the illustrations! Where Nichols was whitty, this was a bit catty and classist. Not a fave.

[Josephine Ensign · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light and lovely book that lives up to its title as a good dip before bed.

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful!

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So lovely and comforting to drowse off to.

[Mills College Library]

635 S9321 2006