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As readers and critics around the country agree, any new book by the renowned garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence is like finding a buried treasure. A Rock Garden in the South will not disappoint. Released posthumously, this book is not only a welcome addition to the Lawrence canon, but fills an important gap in the garden literature on the middle South.
Lawrence, in her usual exquisite prose, deals with the full range of rock gardening topics in this work. She addresses the unique problem of cultivating rock gardens in the South, where the growing season is prolonged and humidity and heat are not conducive to such planting. She describes her own experiences in making a rock garden, with excellent advice on placing stones, constructing steps, ordering plants, and making cuttings.
At the same time, what she writes about here is in large part of interest to gardeners everywhere and for gardens with or without rocks. As always, she thoroughly discusses the plants she has tried-recommending bulbs and other perennials of all sorts, annuals, and woody plants-with poetic descriptions of the plants themselves as well as specific and useful cultural advice. A Rock Garden in the South includes an encyclopedia of plants alphabetized by genus and species and divided into two parts: wood and non-woody plants.
List of contents
Introduction by Allen Lacy vii
Preface xii
The Rock Garden 1
Planting the Garden 17
Nonwoody Plants 25
Woody Plants 145
Appendixes 195
Bibliography 205
Index 209
About the author
Elizabeth Lawrence (1904–1985) wrote a popular gardening column for the Charlotte Observer from 1957 until 1971. She is the author of A Southern Garden, Gardens in Winter, and Lob's Wood. Her books Beautiful at All Seasons, Gardening for Love, and The Little Bulbs, are published by Duke University Press.
Nancy Goodwin is the author of Montrose: Life in a Garden, also published by Duke University Press.
Allen Lacy, formerly a gardening columnist for the New York Times, is the author of numerous gardening books. Goodwin and Lacy are coauthors of A Year in Our Gardens: Letters by Nancy Goodwin and Allen Lacy.
Summary
Available in paperback for the first time, this book features the avid gardener and beloved writer Elizabeth Lawrence's thoughts on rock gardening.
