It was encircled by huge old willows and tall firs , beneath which flourished flowers that loved the subtlety . Prim , right - slant paths , neatly bound with dollar bill - eggshell , intersected it like moist red ribbon and in the beds between old - fashioned efflorescence run public violence .
In her new book , The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables(Timber Press , 2018)Catherine Reiddescribes the garden and landscape that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery and connected her to her most iconic case , the irrepressible Anne Shirley .
Anne ( quoted above ) , like Montgomery , enjoyed “ old - timey ” garden fill with peony , Scotch roses , aquilegia and bouncing Bets , wild garden that were pretermit just enough and woodland gardens like those that blossom along Lover ’s Lane . Montgomery rule an abundance of all three types to instigate her on Prince Edward Island , where she raise up and many of her novels are set .
The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gablesis one of series of books print by Timber Press on writers and the landscapes that permeate their lit . A few twelvemonth ago , I reviewedBeatrix Potter ’s Gardening Life(Timber Press , 2014 ) by Marta McDowell , who is also the author ofThe World of Laura Ingalls Wilder : The Frontier Landscapes that cheer the Little House Books(Timber Press , 2017 ) .
Like the other books , The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gablesweaves biography of Montgomery with insight into the gardens and wild landscapes of Prince Edward Island that appear and re - seem in her Koran . Reid artfully weaves quotes from Montgomery ’s journal and her novel throughout the text , demonstrating how the landscapes and literature fed each other .
Like Anne , Montgomery was essentially an orphan ( her female parent die before she was 2 and her Father of the Church left her with her strict paternal grandparents for most of her childhood ) . She took refuge in the natural world and in her imagination , keeping extensive journals of her nature walk and her response to tree and efflorescence . Like many women of her metre , Montgomery struggled to notice independence . finally , she married a minister of religion , but his womb-to-tomb struggles with mental illness weight her enormously . Reid , like more recent biographer , believe Montgomery died of a drug overdose brought on by natural depression .
Montgomery was a fecund and poetic writer , always look for what she called “ the flash”—an insight or feel that took her from her mundane life into a more inventive place . In her journals , Montgomery wonder if she might have “ been a tree in some other state of existence . ” horticulture was a 2nd love life for Montgomery , and as Reid notes , “ she write and she gardened , the two creative acts reinforcing each other . ”
This book will not give you operating instructions on how to plant a garden like the one Lucy Maud Montgomery had or one ’s she imagined for Matthew , Marilla and Anne at Green Gables , but with its lush photo of Prince Edward Island today as well as period pictures from Montgomery ’s time , it is loose to opine the feel of those plaza . It will give you insight into the kinship between a writer and her homeland .
What are your favorite garden - ish book this time of year ?
