"Every family can have a garden." -Liberty Hyde Bailey
Finally, the best and most accessible garden writings of perhaps the most influential literary gardener of the twentieth century have been brought together in one book. Philosopher, poet, naturist, educator, agrarian, scientist, and garden-lover par excellence Liberty Hyde Bailey built a reputation as the Father of Modern Horticulture and evangelist for what he called the "garden-sentiment"--the desire to raise plants from the good earth for the sheer joy of it and for the love of the plants themselves. Bailey's perennial call to all of us to get outside and get our hands dirty, old or young, green thumb or no, is just as fresh and stirring today as then.
Full of timeless wit and grace, The Liberty Hyde Bailey Gardener's Companion collects essays and poems from Bailey's many books on gardening, as well as from newspapers and magazines from the era. Whether you've been gardening for decades or are searching for your first inspiration, Bailey's words will make an ideal companion on your journey.
Table of Contents:
- The Garden In The Mind General Advice
To One Who Hath No Garden
The Common Natural History
The Importance of Seeing Correctly
A Reverie of Gardens
The Feeling for Plants
Planting a Plant
Gardening and Its Future
Undertone - The Growing Of The Plants
The Miracle
How to Make a Garden: The First Lesson
The Home Garden
How to Make a Garden: Digging in the Dirt
The Growing of Plants by Children: The School-Garden 307
The Spirit of the Garden
Oak
The Principles of Pruning
The Weather
What Is a Weed?
White Clover - Flowers
Blossoms
The Symbolism of Flowers
Extrinsic and Intrinsic Views of Nature
The Flower-Growing Should Be Part of the Design
Annuals: The Best Kinds and How to Grow Them
Campanula - Fruits & Vegetables
The Admiration of Good Materials
The Subject
The Growing of the Vegetable Plants
The Fruit-Garden
Peach
Where There Is No Apple Tree
Apple-Year - Spring to Winter
The Garden Flows
The New Year
The Dandelion
The Apple-Tree in the Landscape
from Lessons of To-day
Leaves
The Garden of Gourds
Lesson I.: The Pumpkin
November: June
An Outlook on Winter
Midwinter
Greenhouse in the Snow
The Garden of Pinks
December - Epilogue
Marvels at Our Feet
Society of the Holy Earth
The Garden Fence
Every gardener, every lover of nature, will open the pages of this book and follow the deep and wise voice of Liberty Hyde Bailey transporting them through space and time, allowing them to understand how tending plants heals both the body and the mind, and how it can ultimately lead to spiritual transcendence. John A. Stempien and John Linstrom have done a masterful job of editing this stunning collection that captures the horticultural writings of one of America's best agrarian writers. In lyrical poetry and prose, Bailey, the 'Father of Modern Horticulture, ' takes us through the cycles of nature, from the blossoms of his beloved apple trees in the spring, to the ripening of gourds in the fall, to the snow falling on the greenhouse in winter. With Bailey we experience the rhythms of the garden with fresh awareness and insight. We marvel as his enticing prose illuminates the holiness of the earth and of the growing things nearest at hand. --Mary Swander, Poet Laureate of Iowa, author of Farmscape
The Liberty Hyde Bailey Gardener's Companion makes a major contribution to literatures across a range of fields, including horticulture, environmental studies, gardening, natural resources, and philosophy. The writings it includes are a gift to our troubled world. There is no other book like it in print. --Scott Peters, Cornell University, author of Democracy and Higher Education
We owe a great debt of gratitude to John Linstrom and John Stempien for exploring and making these insightful writings of Liberty Hyde Bailey available to us all. Bailey is of course one of the great agricultural luminaries of the late 1800s and early 1900s. These incredible 'gardening' essays have seldom been brought to our attention, and now they are available for our ongoing inspiration and edification. --Frederick L. Kirschenmann, Iowa State University, author of Cultivating an Ecological Conscience
Liberty Hyde Bailey's writings are elegant, informative, and poignant. I applaud the editors for putting this fine anthology together and believe it should be on the shelves of everyone working in environmental studies today. --Ben A. Minteer, Arizona State University, author of The Fall of the Wild
Liberty Hyde Bailey spoke to an early generation of environmentalists, and this collection brings his affection for plants and nature to contemporary ears. His affection is contagious, at once enthusiastic and practical, a powerful, lovely tool to help rekindle connections to the world that feeds us body and soul. --Amy Halloran, author of The New Bread Basket
John Stempien teaches history in Lowell, Michigan, and served as the first director of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum from 2006-2012.
John Linstrom is a writer and doctoral candidate in English. He edited the centennial edition of Bailey's The Holy Earth.
Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954) grew up on a farm in Michigan and went on to become Dean of the College of Agriculture at Cornell University, Chair of the Country Life Commission under President Theodore Roosevelt, and the "Father of Modern Horticulture." Simultaneously horticultural scientist and literary naturist, he authored more than seventy books, published thousands of articles, and founded or oversaw countless organizations.
Target Age: 18 and up
Comstock Publishing
Pub Date: September 15, 2019
1.0" H x 8.8" L x 8.2" W
320 Pages
Hardcover