In Your Garden [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Vita Sackville-West (Author), Janet McTeer (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999

Practical gardening advice mingles charmingly with poetic descriptions of the plants that Vita Sackville-West admired. These essays, first published in the London Observer more than 50 years ago, reflect the author's experience in England with her garden at Sissinghurst Castle; however, all of the plants are grown in America and suited to large sections of the American climate. The result is a useful and gracious guide to some unusual but easy to grow plants from the pen of a poet who was also a working gardener. A Cover to Cover Classic Complete and Unabridged. 4 cassettes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"But for real inspiration, close your eyes and let McTeer's aristocratic cadences tempt you into dreams of creating your own garden of delight." -- Talking Books

"Essential because of the perceptive, poetic, ingenious and down-to-earth ability of [Sackville-West] to inspire in reader and listener the urgent need to garden." -- Country Living

"Listening to Janet McTeer reading these informal and discursive notes, written in Sackville-West's plain and elegant English, is pure pleasure. They are full of good information too and inspiring advice." -- Gramophone

"Soothingly read...packed full of useful hints, timely reminders, and infectious enthusiasm." -- The Independent

"These Cover to Cover tapes offer up a delectable feast for fans of the spoken word. We're talking class act here--from the elegant covers to the accomplished readers." -- Deirdre Donahue, USA TODAY, December 3, 1998

"These little essays are models of their kind. Sackville-West's ability to paint a word-picture of a plant, or an idea in the garden, in 500 words, has never been bettered." -- Sunday Telegraph

About the Author

Janet McTeer, highly recognized on both British and American stages, won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Nora in Ibsen's The Doll's House on Broadway. She recently played the part of Sackville-West in the BBC adaptation of Portrait of a Marriage.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Audio Partners (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572700947
• ISBN-13: 978-1572700949
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,851,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless Treasure, August 23, 2000

By 

Cornelia B. (Occidental, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Your Garden (Audio Cassette)

This audio book is pure pleasure to listen to if you're at all interested in gardening. Vita wrote a month by month column in a London paper about gardening, and this contains excerpts from these. It goes through the year, season by season, in her famous garden at Sissinghurst Castle in England, during the years immediately following WWII. She shares planting tips, planting mistakes, and offers her views on the style of gardening she made famous. For example, she recommends planting masses of one plant and one color in a defined area of a garden.

In addition to her dry and witty remarks about gardening in general, she discusses the origins of some of the Latin names of plants, and she indirectly gives us a peek into some of the English culture of the "country house" at that time. The reader is superb! One can actually imagine that, had Vita read it for us herself, she would've used the same tone and inflection. I love this tape. I've given this as a gift to fellow-gardeners, and have listened to it myself over and over. It a real gem!