A Contemplation upon Flowers: Garden Plants in Myth and Literature [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

by Bobby J. Ward (Author), Anne Lovejoy (Foreword) "The thirty species of the perennial Acanthus were originally distributed across the Mediterranean, into Asia Minor, and throughout tropical Africa and Australia..." (more)
Key Phrases: stone crop, plant lore, numerous cultivars, United States, North America, Northern Hemisphere (more...)

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, Incorporated (August 1, 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: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,419,542 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

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 (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

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 of 5 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 (My Deer Garden, Pomona NY) - See all my reviews

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars A dipping book, May 6, 2003

By	Valerie Adolph "Coast Journal" (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A Contemplation upon Flowers: Garden Plants in Myth and Literature. Bobby Ward. Timber Press. 1999.

In his introduction Bobby Ward, botanist and environmental scientist asserts that writers have contemplated upon flowers since the beginning of written history, and his well-researched book proves his point.

This book neatly manages to balance science and art, keeping in mind both botanical accuracy and the poetic licence taken by some of the more fanciful Victorian poets. Mr Ward has researched some 82 varieties of flowers and arranged them alphabetically by their common name. You can read it in sequence if you like an orderly approach. I found myself picking out my favourite plants and discovering their ancient history as well as the way in which poets and playwrights had portrayed them. You'll always find treasures:

- the name `lilac' comes from Persian and Arabic words describing its color. Its Latin name `syringa' comes from a Greek word meaning `pipe' and refers to its hollow stem. Our word `syringe' comes from the same root.

- an ancient legend says that peonies were only to be picked at night. The woodpecker guarding them would attack the eyes of anyone picking them during the day.

This is that rare treat, a "dipping book". You pick out the parts that grab your interest immediately, then keep it beside your armchair to dip into as time goes on. If you enjoy discovering more about the lore and literature of the plants in your garden you'll find "A Contemplation upon Flowers" a treasure to be added to your bookshelf.