The Fragrant Garden: Penhaligon's Scented Treasury of Verse and Prose

by Sheila Pickles

A scented celebration of the garden features the words of William Butler Yeats, Edith Wharton, Vita Sackville-West, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Shakespeare, John Keats, Alfred Tennyson, and others. 30,000 first printing.

Genres: Poetry, Art, Gardening

111 pages, Hardcover

First published March 24, 1992

About the author

Sheila began her career working for Franco Zeffirelli in the worlds of theatre, film and opera in Italy in the 60s. "He was my education," says Sheila. "He was the first one to open my eyes to the whole world of the Arts. In Rome beauty was all around me." At Zeffirelli's suggestion she took over the dying business of Penhaligon's - the historic perfume house making colognes and special preparations for discerning gentlemen - and spent the next two decades brilliantly bringing the business back to International life. Starting with the launch of several exquisite new scents, her creativity took her into designing original luxury gifts and finally into publishing. Sixteen unique scented anthologies of verse and prose redefined the giftbook market including the international bestseller, The Language of Flowers. Two million copies sold!

With the Objets d'Art Jewellery website, Sheila has created a 21st century version of her books, now on line for the next generation. Showing the inspiration and provenance of the jewellery gives a special meaning to which everyone can immediately relate. "Working in the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence with Zeffirelli during the Florence Flood in 1966 was a cathartic time for me", says Sheila. "This was when I realised for the first time the full value of the past and what it can offer us in the future."

Sheila’s creative spark and enormous energy are taking her into a new world, mastering website technology and new marketing techniques in a different direction close to her heart - the beauty of jewellery.

Sheila has two children, James who works in film and Charlotte who is a make-up artist. Charlotte has lent us her beautiful face and is one of the jewellery models.

Reviews

[Klara Gonciarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a splendid collection of short stories, memoires, poems or loose thought on gardens, flowers and nature, accompanied by the most fascinating selection of magnificent paintings from E. Manet to C. Monet, not excluding H. Martin, M. Morris etc.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a gift book of prose and poetry than a ref. book for the gardener. Does offer a few suggestions for plantings but does not offer hardiness zones, so you would have to do additional research. The artwork is superb and the book would be worth just pursuing to enjoy without the text.