Margery Fish (1892–1969)

Charming little book about how the author and her husband Walter built a garden on a property in Somerset, England. I really enjoy reading about her forays into gardening later in life. Her love of the plants and excitement at trying something new really shines through the pages. Of course, being on a different continent, a lot of the plant names were totally unfamiliar to me, and the climate is different so there was quite a bit I couldn't relate to. She does a lot of rockwork in her show more garden- building walls and paths, planting succulents and other things in rock gardens and wall crevices. I couldn't relate much to that, either but it sounded nice. But I also have heavy clay soil so I appreciated reading about how she improved her soil. I really wish I could have my compost heap on a slightly tilted concrete slab with drainage to catch leacheate at the bottom, nicely screened by selected shrubs!

A lot of the amusement in reading this book came from the subtle antagonism between Margery and her husband. He sounds like a very domineering person, whose color choices always took precedent in the garden over hers, whose ideas of straight lines and proper plants supplanted her fondness for creeping things and interesting foliage. He at times callously took over and used a spot she had been preparing for her own choices all winter, or lopped off the heads of flowers she had been growing, because he didn't like the way they looked! She accepted all this, but remarks that after he passed away, she changed the color scheme of the flower beds and planted all the creeping things she wanted. There was one brief comment about how she envied men "their pockets" to carry secateurs around in! that neatly places this book in its era. Women's clothes did not even have pockets; heavy labor and decision-making was left to the garden help and the man of the house. I got a chuckle out of the way she used an old sharpened sword to cut down masses of flowers in one go, that were past their prime and needed trimming!

It would have been nice to see some illustrations of the plants, especially since I am unfamiliar with most, while their combinations are mentioned so favorably. There are some black and white photographs of the actual property and garden in my edition, but while the lushness of growth is very apparent, it is hard to really appreciate the beauty this garden must have been.

from the Dogear Diary show less

A pleasant wintertime read for the armchair gardener. The book recounts in chatty outline the construction of a semi-formal garden outside the author's rather large house in a Somerset village, aided and (rather more) criticized by her husband. Useful tips are scattered throughout. As with all anecdotal gardening books, some of the tips are useless: Mrs Fish had a compost heap which would fill more than a quarter of my garden, and a seemingly endless supply of beautiful oblong stones. Tastes show more also differ: she praises, for example, bergenia, which I find hideous and untidy, and lists a lot of pink flowers which I would not like to have in my borders. On the plus side, she is gardening in clay, as I am, and mentions quite a few of my favourites, such as epimediums, camassias, and hellebores. Once I am back in the garden again, I expect to get even more value out of her "Gardening in the Shade" (1964).

MB 9-i-2012 show less

An interesting meander through Margery Fish's garden and how she developed it from when she and her husband first bought it to her own later solo efforts, it's an interesting look at gardening for her own pleasure, to produce a space she enjoys and is still maintained to this day http://www.greatbritishgardens.co.uk/garden-designers/39-margery-fish-1888-1969.... she developed the concept of the English Country Garden and many people have followed in her footsteps.

She isn't always kind to her show more husband, they didn't always agree on planting and methods but it's entertaining and light and enjoyable. show less

Very good conversational style, discussing what was done with a new garden. Just enough detail to give ideas, not enough to get bogged down.