Katharine S. WhiteReseñas

A passionate, engaging book about gardening. Katharine S White writes about gardening in Maine and other gardening topics with an exquisite sensibility and a compelling voice. I was very surprised by how engaging this book was, all due to the author and her skills.

A collection of articles Katherine S. White wrote for the New Yorker in the 1950s and 1960s. Most are reviews of seed catalogs, while the end chapters focus on reviews of nature and garden books being published at that time. If you like to read about gardens and flowers, reader beware. This is FULL of books you will want to look at and read, and with the ease of the internet now, it is all to easy to find yourself clicking away and ordering books mentioned here. I bought two. I count myself restrained.

White has a straightforward way of discussing both the good and the bad in the garden books. She doesn't hesitate to tell you her preferences and opinions in flower arrangement and garden blooms. At the same time, I felt as though I were sitting with my grandmother discussing the various seed catalogs and possibilities for the garden. She is both charming and literary, well spoken and firm in her ideas. She weaves in history, lore and childhood memories in the most natural way.

At the end of the book, there is a large section with seed and plant nurseries which were still operating at the time of this publication, 1979. There is also an introduction by E. B. White. Very charming line drawings of plants and flowers at the beginning and end of each chapter of the book.

4/13/22

I don't garden so after the novelty wore off it was rough going. I'd consider spreading it out, say a chapter a week, otherwise it's a bit much. I also had to look up quite a few of the flowers to keep pace. The writing is fine, though dated in style, in my mind it definitely read as pre-WWII. There's a definite underpinning of the white middle class experience as normative.

This gardening book is a compilation of articles originally written as a column for The New Yorker magazine. It took me by surprise. The individual essays are not actually about gardening per se, but are for the most part, reviews of seed catalogs. I have done this once myself, so I was a bit intrigued. It turns out Mrs. White is quite opinionated about gardening and the development of new plant varieties- especially how showier flowers and bigger produce seem to be all the seedsmen are aiming for- at least that was her take on it. She disparages a lot of trends in the seed catalogs, which makes for some amusing reading. Here and there she mentions her own experiences with certain plants, which were the parts I really enjoyed. She doesn't just talk about plants, though. She criticizes (or praises where it was merited) the paper quality, choice of typography and clarity of photos in the seed catalogs. Later in the book are a few reviews of different types of publications regarding plants- field guides to wildflowers and oversized gardening books meant to be decorative (I call them "coffee table" books). I admit I was totally uninterested in the two chapters about books on formal flower arranging, styles in flower arrangement, and flower shows. I kind of skimmed through that. I puzzled a bit at how often she made a point of telling which supplier had what particular variety of a species, until I recalled the publication date: there was no internet back then. You couldn't just do a search and find where to buy the rose your grandmother used to grow or anything. So of course she made notes on which seeds suppliers grew, developed and sold what particular strains of plants. Specializing in roses, or azaleas, or herbs, etc. Helpfully, in the back of the book is a listing of all the catalogs and suppliers mentioned, with brief notes if they are still in business or have changed their focus. Only the last two chapters review gardening books of the kind I like to read- and here I did note down a few titles that sound particularly good. And on a different note, the introduction is written by her husband, a lovely portrait of Mrs. White and some of her gardening habits.

from the Dogear Diary

I will admit this book is not for everyone and if you are not passionate about flowers and flower gardening or reading about a woman living in the 50's then just skip this book but I found it to be a treasure. I did take my time reading it, I think this is the longest I have ever taken to finish a book! I chose to pick it up at different times of different seasons when my interest was inspired. This is not a book to be read at one time. Katharine had spunk and she drew me in right off the bat and when I thought I just might give up on a certain topic I was finding dull she would write something that would make me chuckle. I just fell in love with her. I looked up some of the seed companies and found them to still be doing business and I actually bought some bulbs from one of them! I was drawn to this book because I was born in 1959 and was curious to see the writing style of that time and hoped to get a glimpse into what my Mother's life might have been like. I have copied 2 other reviewer's opinions because they described Katharine and her book better than I could. If you choose to give it a try, I hope you fall in love with her too!

Apr 11, 2009 Marguerite rated it 4 stars
I've never met an opinionated gardener I like more than the late Katharine S. White. The essays in this book shaped me somewhat, to the extent that they helped me accept my own gardening prejudices and limitations. More than anything, though, they helped me to dream, to visualize perfection in my own little piece of sod. I've come close to that mark a couple of times, but not on the shady lot we now call home. This is a book for winter months, the times you'd like nothing better than to sink your hands into some good earth and make things grow. The only thing better than reading about it is doing it. But, if you're going to read about it, read White

Char rated it 4 stars June 13, 2007 Katharine's wit is very English, genteel, 50's and I found myself laughing aloud at least once per chapter. This is a book to savor over time. Read a few pages or a chapter when you need a respite, put it down, then come back to enjoy again

Two Gardeners is a delightful book about a friendship that just clicked from the very beginning. Emily Herring Wilson has compiled & edited the letters of Katharine White and Elizabeth Lawrence's nineteen year correspondence (1958 - 1977) which started with a simple fan letter to Katharine from Elizabeth. Katharine White (married to E.B. White) wrote reviews about gardening catalogs and Elizabeth just happened to respond to one such seed catalog review. Their correspondence grew from strictly talking about gardening to the more personal as time went on. They grew comfortable enough to share details of illnesses (their own and of family) and the trials of growing older. A real friendship starts to bloom despite only being pen pals and meeting once. I have to admit it was sad to hear about their growing illnesses.½

A compilation of Katharine S. White's essays on gardening, collected into a single volume after her death and published with a gem of an introduction by her husband, one E.B. White. Who, other than Katharine White, would have thought to review seed and flower catalogs for The New Yorker? Her lively, opinionated prose makes for wonderfully enjoyable reading, even if the annual reviews which make up the first part of the book do get ever-so-slightly repetitive. The more thematic essays in the second half (on roses, house plants, winter gardening, and on horticultural books generally) are excellent.

Utterly charming from start to finish, and the introduction is worth a read all on its own.

One of my all time favourite gardening books, this is a delightful book for a cold winter's day of reading and dreaming in front of the warm fireplace.

this book presents the letters between kaktherine white - the wife of e.b. white who wrote columns for the New yorker and a gardener in north carolina.

Very little is amusing. Seriously dated.

A very dated collection of humor from the late 1800s through the 1930s. Very little even caused a chuckle. A couple of pieces offensively racist.

(This review was originally written for The Garden Bloggers' Book Club)

I finished Two Gardeners: Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence - A Friendship in Letters last night. I was enthralled and deeply moved by this book. Enthralled, because reading their letters was akin to reading modern day garden blogs. I was deeply moved by their deaths because I felt by the end of the book that I knew them.

Their letters also brought back a lot of memories for me. My maternal grandmother was a few years older than Katharine White. Unlike many women of her time, she married late in life and had my mother when she was close to 40. When I knew her, she had retired and was living in an apartment. I loved accompanying her when she went "visiting". Part of those visits involved tours of her friends' gardens. Gardens that looked very much like the photos and descriptions of Katharine's and Elizabeth's gardens. Their letters sounded eerily like the conversations during those visits.

The descriptions of the flower shows made me laugh! I remember shows like those derided in their letters. My poor mother tried and tried to learn flower arranging. Books, classes, garden club lectures, nothing helped. She finally settled on just entering specimen plants and flowers. I should add that she won several prizes in local shows. And that I inherited her inability to arrange flowers in an attractive manner.

A compilation of the letters between two noted gardening writers, K.S. White (the wife of E. B. White) and Elizabeth Lawrence, this book shows the insecurities of each and the encouragement they gave one another to go on. There are many wonderful details of garden books and plants, for those who love gardening. The homey incidents of life during the thirty or so years these two women wrote are interesting, as well as their dedication to their work and families through severe health trials.
I simply enjoyed listening in as these women spoke, but I must also compliment editor Emily Herring Wilson in her job of putting the letters together and filling in the missing details and information, as well as the wonderful index in the back for reference. In her introduction is possibly one of the most moving thoughts of the whole book. She explained to me in one paragraph the behavior of my gardening grandmother. I had never understood why she always apologized for her gorgeous yard, but this paragraph gave me insight. For that, I love the book.

Little did I know that once I started reading Two Gardeners that I would barely be able to put it down. I ended up finishing the book in three days. What a delightful book!

Elizabeth Lawrence and Katharine White first "met" when Lawrence wrote to White to praise White's article, "A Romp in the Catalogs," published in The New Yorker in 1958. This began a correspondence that lasted until Katharine's death in 1977.

Over the almost 20 years that they wrote to one another, they only met once, in 1967. Their's was a friendship of distance, and of words. They were drawn together because of a common interest in gardening and writing, but as their correspondence deepened, they became friends and confidants.

Because they both write about gardening, the reader assumes that there will be a lot of horticultural descriptions and advice throughout the letters. And while there is much talk of gardens and plants - both women describe what's in bloom, specific flowers and the weather - gardening is not the only glue that holds these women's friendship together.

To me, in many ways, this was not so much a book about gardening but a book about being an author. Both women spent their lives in the publishing world - Katharine as an editor and writer for The New Yorker and Elizabeth as a book author and columnist for magazines and newspapers - and their overriding concern with publishing and books shines through their letters. From the first letter from Elizabeth to Katharine suggesting different catalogs that Katharine could review in her next article, to the last letter from Katharine to Elizabeth making final arrangements for their letters to be archived, these two women were writers first.

Throughout their correspondence, Katharine asks for advice on books, catalogs and horticulture, and uses the information she learns from Elizabeth in her articles. Likewise, Elizabeth bounces ideas off Katharine and asks for advice in dealing with publishers. During the years, they trade books that they think the other would like.

This all seems as if the correspondence was dry and professional, but it was anything but that. Each woman continually encourages and praises the other, listens to her friend's description of household ills and personal problems, and chats about friends and family. At one point, when Katharine is very ill, Elizabeth sends her cuttings of various flowers and plants from her garden.

Another overriding concern to both women is health. Katharine White had a lot of health problems through the course of the book and according to the editor she and her husband E. B. White were very concerned about their health. Elizabeth Lawrence cares for her sick mother at home through about 10 years of letters and discusses her situation often. Additionally, as both women age (Katharine was 84 when she died in 1977, and Elizabeth was about 10 years younger), both their own physical condition and that of those around them begins to deteriorate.

As a reader of these letters, I felt that I began to know these two women. I admired their devotion to family, sympathized with their pains and illnesses, and enjoyed watching their friendship take root and flower over the years.

NA