A Contemplation Upon Flowers: Garden Plants in Myth and Literature [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Bobby J. Ward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1999

An entertaining survey of 80 plant genera, with a multitude of references to, and extracts from, myth and literature throughout the ages. This delightful book will inspire you to look at your own garden in a new light, based on what William Blake or the ancient Romans said about them.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The snowdrop, in purest white arraie,
First rears her hedde on Candlemas daie;"
From an early church calendar of English flowers, ca. 1500

As you pick up spade and shovel and head out into the garden, you might want to offer up a prayer for sunny days and rainy nights to one of the patron saints of gardening described by Bobby Ward in this fascinating compilation of horticultural wit and whimsy.

Have you ever wondered how flowers get their names, both common and scientific, or what Shakespeare or Milton had to say about roses or honeysuckle? Collected in this fat, satisfying volume are quotations from poetry, plays, and stories written by the ancient Greeks up through the Victorians that trace the rich history of the natural world as captured in myth and literature. Symbolism, traditional medicinal uses, and most of all lyrical tributes to favorite plants from acanthus to zinnia fill the pages of this book, to be read for sheer pleasure or dipped into for information about specific flowers. The book is easy to use compared to many such compilations, in part because it is arranged by type of plant, and because Ward has masterfully woven it all together with a blend of historical and botanical commentary for context.

You won't learn from this book how to plant a bulb or grow a tomato, but there are more than enough books on the practical matters of gardening. Rather, folk tales, myths, legends, and lore of the flowers, in the words of sages, saints, herbalists, and poets provide inspiration, humor, and fine reading. --Valerie Easton

From Library Journal

Ward, a retired environmental scientist and gardener, has gathered quotations from poems, myths, novels, and plays from ancient Greece to the 19th century to illustrate the literary history of 80 garden plants. He traces the origins of the scientific and common names for each plant and provides its mythological and religious contexts, symbolism in the arts, and traditional medicinal uses, as well as its meaning in the language of flowers. He also mentions unusual uses of flowers as food, for example oil made from the seeds of snapdragons. The most challenging part of his research was verifying that a recognizable common name was applied to the same plant over the years by different writers. Ward is meticulous in identifying the particular plants referred to in the literary selections he quotes, whose sources range from the familiar to the obscure. This book offers much information and entertainment for patrons of large public and academic libraries.ADaniel Starr, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 447 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press; First Edition edition (August 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881924695
• ISBN-13: 978-0881924695
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,355,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rare book that explains each flowers role in the history, February 18, 2001

By 

Rebecca Green - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Contemplation Upon Flowers: Garden Plants in Myth and Literature (Hardcover)

There are many books that tell gardeners the growing conditions and requirements of different flowers. However, rare is the book that explains each flower's role in the world's history and literature, as well as their medicinal uses and, the roots of each flower's botanical and common names. That is why Bobby Ward's A Contemplation Upon Flowers, which traces the history of eighty plants from the time of the Greek's to today, is such a treasure.

This book is a must have for any serious gardener. Bobby Ward reveals long lost secretes about some of the world's favorite gardening plants that until now where lost and hidden in books and manuscripts that have been out of print for ages. Just when I thought I knew almost everything about some of my favorite plants, this book revealed a wealth of information about their long lost histories.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dainty young thing...., October 7, 2000

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Contemplation Upon Flowers: Garden Plants in Myth and Literature (Hardcover)

Bobby Ward, a retired environmental scientist who now edits and writes books on gardening, has assembled a nice compendium on selected literature and folk lore associated with some of our most beloved flowers. He covers Daffodils (Wordsworth) and Pansies (that's for thoughts) and other familiar blossoms, as well as a few not so familiar plants.

My favorite essay is about the Honeysuckle, literally a flower from which one sucks honey. Also known as Woodbine, this little plant has over 180 species, primarily native to the Northern Hemisphere, but there is at least one that grows in England ... "I know a place where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite overcanopied with luscious Woodbine.." where of Tatania the Queen of the Fairies sleeps. The Honeysuckle belongs to the genus "Lonicera" in the family "Caprifoliaceae" literally goat's leaves--probably because they loved to eat them.

We learn of the patron saints of gardeners, and specific flowers, like Saint John's Wort named for saints. The Crocus is the Queen, with it's many religious associations ranging from Lupercalia to Saint Valentines Day. Many poets and writers have created verse and prose to honor the little Crocus, harbinger of spring.

Mr. Ward used secondary material to develop his book, so he perpetuates some myths -- pagans were not likely to have built fires to ward off witches and devils since Christians invented the latter long after the pagens came into being. If the local country folk built fires to ward off witches and devils they were practicing a 'Santaria' type religion (mixture of Christian and pagan beliefs).

Mr. Ward edited a book of essays by Elizabeth Lawrence entitled, "A Garden of One's Own" and is a fellow North Carolinian. So I was quite surprised to see that he did not include her very fine book "Through the Garden Gate" in his bibliography. Lawrence's book covers much of the same material found in Ward's book, and she wrote it some 20-30 years earlier.

All in all, this is a nice book, and since it brings together material from a variety of sources it's a good place to start if you're interested in the connections between flora, folk tales, English literature, and Latin names.

5.0 out of 5 stars plant/flower lore, September 19, 2009

By 

Cathy Hart (burbank, calif.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Contemplation Upon Flowers: Garden Plants in Myth and Literature (Paperback)

Packed with a rich amount of myths, facts, history, & lore. Both scientific & mystical.If you love this sort of thing, you will not be disappointed here. So much amusing fact & fancy about each flower & plant, whether it's uses in health & cures, or said to give courage. uses in perfume, flavoring food. Legends of fairy queens, herbalists, monks, American Indians are only some of this great folk lore. the author is not stingy with information, he gives a goodly amount in a cheerfull manner with tenderness & respect for our flowers. I enjoy it immensly & will keep it around for future reference.