What to read after Old Time Gardens?

Originally published in 1901, Old Time Gardens by Alice Morse Earle was one of the most popular and influential garden books of the early twentieth century—and one of the first to be extensively illustrated with photographs. With the recent revival of interest in historic gardens and heirloom plants, Old Time Gardens has once again become a valued, if hard to find, resource for gardeners and landscape designers, and historians. This new edition, featuring an introduction by landscape historian Virginia Lopez Begg, makes this classic work available to a new generation of readers.

Old Time Gardens celebrates the plants and garden designs of early America. Distinguished by its inviting style, wealth of detailed information about plants, design and garden ornaments, and captivating descriptions and photographs of historic gardens, the book is still regularly cited in books and magazine articles, and recommended on web sites. Earle’s advocacy of historic garden designs was rooted in her strong sense of the garden as a place to live in, and to interact with nature, family and friends, according to Begg. For Earle, the significance of gardens lay not just in their design and plants, but also in their association with the people who cultivated and used them.

Accessible, informative, inspiring, and lavishly illustrated, this classic work is still a valuable resource for gardeners, landscape designers, and an essential volume for garden historians.