Part of the charm and eye-delighting intricacy of Beatrix Potter’s beloved children’s books about such endearing and enduring characters as Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-Duck are the precisely and vitally rendered illustrations of the English gardens, farms, and landscapes her characters so actively occupy. In this sumptuously illustrated “gardening biography,” horticultural consultant McDowell, who is fascinated by writers who garden (her first book was Emily Dickinson’s Gardens, 2004), fully illuminates Potter’s deep botanical knowledge and joy in cultivation. When publishers rejected her first attempt at a children’s book, Potter self-published The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902, launching a brilliant career. When she purchased Hill Top Farm in the fabled Lake District, she set out on the path that led to her becoming an intrepid gardener, savvy landowner, sheep breeder, and conservationist, ultimately leaving thousands of pristine acres to the National Trust. With wit and expertise, McDowell highlights the stamp of Potter’s horticultural know-how on her indelible books and chronicles a year in her exuberant gardens to create a visually exciting, pleasurably informative appreciation of Potter’s devotion to art and nature. --Donna Seaman
“You may well want to buy a copy to keep and several to give friends... the book is a visual delight.”
(Valerie Easton
Pacific Northwest Magazine)
“Gardeners brought up on the mishaps of Peter Rabbit can now curl up with Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life … This work brings Potter, as much as her garden, to life, as an energetic, sturdy soul with an uncanny understanding of animals.”
(Anne Raver
The New York Times)
“McDowell leads her readers on a virtual tour of the gardens that were important in Potter's life and provides season-by-season descriptions of the flowered landscapes the author created at Hill Top Farm and Castle Cottage."
(Mary Beth Breckenridge
Akron Beacon Journal)
“A volume rich with photographs and Potter's own enchanting sketches and watercolors.”
(Nara Schoenberg
Chicago Tribune)
"McDowell brings to light a delightfully different side of the celebrated author... The book recounts Potter's life through a gardening lens and is copiously illustrated with her sketches and watercolors of plants."
(Charlotte Albers
The American Gardener)
"A beautiful book that gives a strong sense of the strong and practical woman that Potter was. Nearly every page has a photograph or delicate painting from one of her books… a visual feast."
(Pat Leuchtman
The Greenfield Recorder)
“One of the best books this year for the gardener on your holiday gift list… a gem.”
(Joyce H. Newman
Garden Variety News)
“Illustrated on every page with scenes from Potter’s life and her botanical illustrations… If you love gardening, you will love this book.”
(Kathy Purdy
Cold Climate Gardening)
“In this visually charming book, McDowell takes us from her childhood summers in the country to her adult homes and gardens.”
(Gloria Day
The Reading Eagle)
“A richly illustrated exploration of Beatrix Potter's evolution as an author-illustrator, gardener, sheep farmer and land preservationist.”
(
Shelf Awareness)
“Potter springs to life from the pages of this fascinating and beautiful book.”
(Cheryl B. Wilson
The Daily Hampshire Gazette)
“Stir your imagination… a biography written through plants.”
(Deborah Needleman
The New York Times Book Review)
“McDowell traces the journey of Potter the gardener, which is inextricable linked to Potter the writer... A fascinating insight into how Potter's writing and passion for plants (she experimented with a wide variety of species and was a prodigious propagator) fed each other."
(
The Age (Melbourne, Australia))
“Gardening lovers and children's literature lovers alike will find beauty in these pages of photographs and stories about Beatrix Potter and her characters and flowers."
(
The Carroll County Community Times)
“Illustrated throughout with Potter’s charming watercolors and historic photographs, this book is a delightful exploration of the landscape that inspired one of the world’s great authors… about as charming as a garden book can be.”
(David Bare
Winston Salem Journal)
“Rich with photographs and Potter’s watercolors, this is destined to be a coffee table classic.”
(Jane Milliman
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
“Brings the reader into the life of the beloved author and illustrator… chock-full of wonderful photographs of Potter and her gardens... a book to banish winter blues.”
(Georgeanne Davis
Rockland Free Press)
“This is not an historical novel with a plot, but neither is it a mere documentary of facts. It is the perfect blend of both.”
(Kylee Baumle
Horticulture Magazine Online)
“Horticulturalist McDowell tells of famed children's author Beatrix Potter's magnificent garden on Hill Top Farm, in England. Filled with vivid descriptions, photographs, maps, illustrations, and quotes from Potter, this book details the landscape that provided inspiration for some of the most well-known childhood tales of all time.”
(
Alaska Airlines Magazine)
“The first book to explore Beatrix Potter's garden and how it influenced her children's stories... A great gift book for old and new fans alike."
(
English Garden)
"You will be charmed by this book."
(
Gardens Illustrated)