Product description Practical gardening advice mingles charmingly with poetic descriptions of the plants that Vita Sackville-West admired. These essays, first published in the London Observer more than 50 years ago, reflect the author's experience in England with her garden at Sissinghurst Castle; however, all of the plants are grown in America and suited to large sections of the American climate. The result is a useful and gracious guide to some unusual but easy to grow plants from the pen of a poet who was also a working gardener. A Cover to Cover Classic Complete and Unabridged. 4 cassettes. Review "But for real inspiration, close your eyes and let McTeer's aristocratic cadences tempt you into dreams of creating your own garden of delight." -- Talking Books "Essential because of the perceptive, poetic, ingenious and down-to-earth ability of [Sackville-West] to inspire in reader and listener the urgent need to garden." -- Country Living "Listening to Janet McTeer reading these informal and discursive notes, written in Sackville-West's plain and elegant English, is pure pleasure. They are full of good information too and inspiring advice." -- Gramophone "Soothingly read...packed full of useful hints, timely reminders, and infectious enthusiasm." -- The Independent "These Cover to Cover tapes offer up a delectable feast for fans of the spoken word. We're talking class act here--from the elegant covers to the accomplished readers." -- Deirdre Donahue, USA TODAY, December 3, 1998 "These little essays are models of their kind. Sackville-West's ability to paint a word-picture of a plant, or an idea in the garden, in 500 words, has never been bettered." -- Sunday Telegraph About the Author Janet McTeer, highly recognized on both British and American stages, won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Nora in Ibsen's The Doll's House on Broadway. She recently played the part of Sackville-West in the BBC adaptation of Portrait of a Marriage. From AudioFile This month-by-month selection of Vita Sackville-West's gardening columns for the LONDON OBSERVER evokes Andrew Marvell's restful phrase, "a green thought in a green shade." Her setting is the English cottage garden; her values stated in 1940s shillings and pence; her relations with plants intimate, anthropomorphic, and correct in all British and Latin nomenclature. Today's backyard gardener may find it easier to listen to than to follow her advice on the common quince and the copper beech. ("Oh, why," I cried to myself, "don't we all plant even a short length of copper beech hedge!") But McTeer's elegant rendering of the wonderful diction and flair of the mistress of Sissinghurst Castle is the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon of summer gardening, or, better yet, to the contemplation of a summer garden from the cool shade of a hammock. D.A.W. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine