Another lovely old book from the used book store. Its spine bears the title "Flower and Kitchen Gardens", the cover reads "Flower Kitchen Gardens", and the title pages read "Gardens: Quick Results with Flowers and Vegetables". Whoever owned this book before never read it all the way through!—the edges of several pairs of pages were still bound together in their original folds. This modest book moves gracefully from the practical (plant lists and sketches of border plans) to the contemplative ("Gardening and Philosophy" is one of the book's chapters), in spare prose that stands on its convictions ("A white lima bean is an abomination and should never be cooked.") yet maintains a wry humor (one chapter title: "Facts easy to remember, which give a beginner great authority among his friends"). I loved this description of an inspired combination planting, and how it changed a life:
I always have two long lines of the red Savoy cabbage, as it is called in the seed-books, although it is quite purple and we always call them the "blue cabbage." I never allow them to be picked, they are so beautiful just behind the border of flowers that edges the square vegetable garden, and backed by long lines of parsley—more parsley than all the boarding houses in all the world could ever use, but it, too, is so beautiful. The blue cabbage will always find its place in my garden as it has already helped in the creation, or rescue, of one artist. He had fallen from his original high ambition and had become a banker, but on a weekend with us the beauty of the blue cabbages with hollyhocks against the grey wall in the distance lured him back to his real métier, and it is at least now his avocation, with a strong prospect of becoming his vocation.Flower and Kitchen Gardens aka Flower Kitchen Gardens aka Gardens: Quick Results with Flowers and Vegetables. Jessica G. Cosgrave. George H. Doran Company, 1925. Long out of print, but Bookfinder.com shows several used copies available through various booksellers.
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