From the Bookshelf

That wretched Christmas song comes to mind, “Oh, the weather outside is frightful” etc but time indoors had me reading back over a few books I hadn’t taken to hand for a long while. William Stearn and E. A. Bowles lead on to Vita Sackville-West and that group of books which were simply reprints of her articles in The Observer newspaper: In Your Garden, In Your Garden Again, More For Your Garden and Even More For Your Garden. After reading the first volume I thought there were some nice snippets there so as I read the second I noted those passages which appealed to me and have reproduced them below for, I hope, your amusement on this dull and miserable day.

Just to show I kid you not, here is the view from the window at this moment; grey, wet, cold and miserable. As an aside, and a possible excuse for the material in this post, did you know that Jamesons have a whiskey called “Caskmates Stout Edition”? It really is very nice!

So, let’s begin: From In Your Garden Again which reprinted her articles from The Observer between February 1951 and March 1953:

On the nature of children and a suitable plant to entertain the little buggers:

Her thoughts on double snowdrops: (Tastes change over the years!)

And on those snowdrops which flower in autumn:

The sting is in the tail in this entry, at the bottom of the second section below, about the practice of carving gourds in North Carolina

A little hint of snobbishness and a book review which puts author and work in their place:

A note I found interesting about the name Hyacinth:

And of the Russell lupins – watch for the sting in the tail:

And this may be apposite with the impending coronation in the United Kingdom:

Now, I think it’s time to pour again from that bottle of Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition but I do hope that I haven’t driven you to the drink!

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