Tasha Tudor's Garden [Hardcover]

Tovah Martin (Author), Richard W. Brown (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 1994

Tasha Tudor's poignant art has fascinated adults and children for decades. Her nineteenth-century New England lifestyle is legendary. Gardeners are especially intrigued by the profusion of antique flowers -- spectacular poppies, six-foot foxgloves, and intoxicating peonies -- in the cottage gardens surrounding her hand-hewn house. Until now we've only caught glimpses of Tasha Tudor's landscape. In this gorgeous book, two of her friends, the garden writer Tovah Martin and the photographer Richard Brown, take us into the magical garden and then behind the scenes. As we revel in the bedlam of Johnny-jump-ups and cinnamon pinks, the intricacy of the formal peony garden, and the volumptuousness of her heirloom roses, we also learn Tasha's gardening secrets. How does she coax forth her finicky camellia blossoms in the dead of a Vermont winter? How does she train that fantastic topiary to model for her artwork? How can she keep her crown imperials from tumbling in the winds? Tasha's garden reflects a wealth of family lore, perfected through the years and years of working the soil. We may be dazzled by the beauty of the garden, but we come away from this book with practical ideas about improving our own plots of land. "Paradise on earth" is how Tasha describes her garden, and along with the flowers and the vegetables that provide her food, her paradise is filled with an enchanting menagerie -- corgies, Nubian goats, cats, chickens, fantail doves, and forty or more exotic finches, cockatiels, canaries, nightingales, and parrots, which inhabit her collection of antique cages. Tasha's beautiful watercolors and her enchanting anecdotes color this sublimely beautiful book.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The noted children's-book author and illustrator Tasha Tudor, "half naturalist, half gardener," lives with her dogs, Nubian goats and countless trees, plants and flowers on a 250-acre hilltop farm in Vermont. Here Martin (The Essence of Paradise) and Brown (The Private World of Tasha Tudor) politely dog her trail during the growing months to learn the hows and whys of her gardening prowess. A few knacks and secrets: one of Tudor's particularly prized theme gardens on the property is "hemmed in by a ring of tall lilacs, which artfully disguise an electric fence to keep the deer at bay." Another: "The primroses sink their toes only into well-composted goat manure mixed with leaf mold." Perhaps the ultimate: Tudor's "manure tea," an invention consisting of cow flops and water steeped all summer in a caldron for use as fertilizer. Tea or no, the book's roundly picturesque and dappled with full-color photos of Herself minding the peonies and strolling barefoot (by preference) past the daffodils. The text by Martin is friendly and informative. A list of Tudor's favorite nurseries is included.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

By savoring Martin's delightfully intimate account of seasonal activities in Tasha Tudor's Vermont garden and by gazing upon the included photographic studies of the legendary gardener in her element--surrounded by lavish flower borders--Tudor's reputation is indelibly imprinted. From the house on a hilltop (built by her son and patterned after a centuries-old farmhouse), to her clothing style (layers of garments resembling the look of a pioneer woman), Tudor epitomizes a Yankee lifestyle that will enrapture readers. In fact, Tudor would probably already be a "national living treasure" if our government bestowed the equivalent of Japan's accolade for individuals of outstanding artistic achievement. Alice Joyce

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; First Edition edition (October 5, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395436095
• ISBN-13: 978-0395436097
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 1 x 10.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Flowers
  • #39 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Garden Design

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book for the coffee table... May 29, 2000

By Dianne Foster HALL OF FAME

Format:Hardcover

I heard Ms. Martin speak at the National Wildlife Federation in Virginia just after she wrote this book. At the time, I had no idea who Tasha Tudor was. I loved the talk and the slides Ms. Martin showed us during her lecture. I bought the book because I wanted to remember these pictures for a long, long time. They are beautiful.

I showed the book to my granddaughters Hannah and Amelia who immediately recognized Tasha Tudor, since she illustrates children's books. The children and I enjoyed looking at the photos of Tasha's daily life. We see her working in her garden at different times of the year, feeding her goats, or walking with her Corgis (The Corgis are everywhere--probably why I love the book. You can garden and have dogs!)

In one photo, Tasha sits in the midst of a clump of pink lillies sketching a pretty model dressed in an 19th century antebellum gown of light grey silk. Another photo shows a closeup of a pretty blue bowl filled with fresh red raspberries resting on green mint leaves. In another photo, Tasha sits with a cup of tea in a delicate blue and white china cup and saucer.

The book contains examples of Tasha's artwork created for the children's books. There's not a lot of text. Think of this the photo album of your favorite Aunt. I own hundreds of art books and gardening books, and this is one of the prettiest.

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting, Realistic for any cottage Gardner November 22, 2001

By Beth DeRoos HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

139 pages long with chapters:
Introduction A Garden Lost in Time;
April & Before Prelude To Spring;
May The Garden Awakens;
June Flowers of Profusion;
July Daisy Garlands & Delphinums;
August Lilies & Berries to Spare;
September & Beyond Gathering the Harvest

Scattered about the beautiful as well as informative pages are various water colours that Ms Tudor has done. And the photographs are such that they are inspirational as well as realistic and give the reader a sense of what the average gardener can do. This isn't a book that is a show off. It is a book that is earthy, pretty and old fashioned and a must for those of us who have inherited or bought or rent a cottage-home with vast possibilities for gardening.

I especially like reading about the early thaw in April when the roads are to muddy for even the UPS to get to her house to deliver the vast amounts of seeds and bulbs she has ordered. And it was so nice to see that Ms Tutor loves bulbs to the excess like the rest of us.

The pieces on her vegetables and fruits harvested and either cooked or canned made me smile as well as reminded me of what I loved about my childhood and why as old fashioned as it sounds still love to do. Cooking, baking, canning are things I find fun and not at all boring or a chore.

Reading about her chicks and chickens and the decades she has kept birds was wonderful and another reminder of the joys of being self sufficient. And reading of her green house which in winter keeps her vase full of blooms (page 32) reminded me of why it is worth the expense of having even a small warm spot to grow flowers in the winter.

But it is the writings and art of the crocuses that I keep coming back to see and read about. Unless you have awoken on a chilly spring day and seen the first crocus peaking out of the earth, you just cant image the joy and the sense of hopefulness this is. And I appreciated her suggestions on what type primroses to buy. And the photo on page 42 of the many stacked clay pots reminded me of how simple items can become art within our environments. And on page 62 I was happy to see that Forget Me Nots go well with the pale Johhny Jump Ups. Had never seen the combination before but will now try it.

Oh and the sweet peas, which were my Dads favorite and always planted in February during Presidents week. And her wood burning cook stove looks just like my neighbors, and what we want in the future, with a gas supply backup.

This is simply one of those books that if you love cottage or homestead gardening must own. It wont sit on your shelf but will be on you bedside table, computer desk or next to your favorite reading area, since you cant resist picking it up to enjoy over and over.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, and lovingly written and photographed. December 17, 1998

By Laura S. Heiman

Format:Hardcover

Like some other reviewers, I saw this book, couldn't quite afford it, and bought it anyway. Tudor has created a fairyland garden, and it is photographed and written about as lovingly as it is cared for. That enthusiasm is brought through the pages and infects most who read it. For any of those who feel somewhat out of place in this century, or who are simply waiting out the long winter until the garden wakes again, this would be a treasure.