March 4, 2023
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1of4“Land Gardeners” authors Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld gather dahlias in the early morning.Clare Richardson
2of4Hellebores flower at a time when there is little else in the garden in England. the hybrid Lenten rose (Helleborus x hybridus) can be tricky, but we find it lasts longer if picked when it is going to seed in late spring and its stems are seared in boiling water.Clare Richardson
3of4“The Land Gardeners: Cut Flowers,” by Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta CourtauldThames & Hudson
4of4Rose blooms in tiny jugs are individually labeled for teaching a workshop.Clare Richardson
At the 15th-century Wardington Manor in Oxfordshire, England, Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld live out their dreams, creating vivid gardens for homes around the world and maintaining a massive garden of their own with bulbs, plants, shrubs, trees and vines providing flowering blooms across nearly three seasons.
Many of the lessons these Brits share in their new book, “The Land Gardeners: Cut Flowers” (Thames & Hudson; $34.95; 256 pages), may not directly apply to Gulf Coast gardeners, but it’s worth noting that gardeners everywhere share the same dream: creating beautiful things in the ground, a pot or a vase. We may not share the same climate, but we both can smile at blooming wisteria and thorny vines heavy with fragrant roses.
In words and photos, Elworthy and Courtauld bring their garden to life and share advice on organization, timing and cutting flowers all while extolling the virtues of organic gardening.
Diane Cowen
Diane Cowen has worked at the Houston Chronicle since 2000 and currently its architecture and home design writer. Prior to working for the Chronicle, she worked at the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune and at the Shelbyville (Ind.) News. She is a graduate of Purdue University and is the author of a cookbook, “Sunday Dinners: Food, Family and Faith from our Favorite Pastors.”