i love gardenhistorygirl

I'm always so excited to find a new post from Gardenhistorygirl in my inbox. They don't come around often--it wouldn't be possible as each post is so thorough and well-researched. Some of my favorite posts include Brancusi in the Garden...

Brancusi and Man Ray in Edward Steichen's Garden, toasting the poplar "Column" sculpture

For months I was fantasizing about an over-the-top vegetable Versailles after seeing walking stick kale in the Annie's Annuals catalog. I was able to learn a little bit about this Dr. Seuss-like veggie from Google but it was Gardenhistorygirl who came along and really satisfied my thirst for more information with her post The Cabbage that is King: Brassica oleracae longata. 

 Some sources, I learned, report that walking stick kale can grow up to 20' tall!

In the post Edward Steichen's Garden History I learned that photographer Edward Steichen was also a delphinium fanatic and president of the Delphinium Society of America. Really?! People are interesting...the plot thickens. 

Edward Steichen with delphiniums (c. 1938), photo by Dana Steichen. 

And after I posted a very stingy post about the wonderful lantern slides of gardens taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston, Gardenhistory girl came along and brought the subject into full color with her post. I was so excited to read more AND I was excited to enter into the drawing she hosted for the recently published book on Johnston's work Gardens for a Beautiful America. I entered almost as a dare because I never, ever, win anything. But what can I say, the gods obviously want this gorgeous book sitting on my coffee table for years to come because look what arrived in the mail a short while later...

Thank you Gardenhistorygirl for the giveaway, but especially for your very special blog which satisfies my thirst for esoteric garden tid bits!

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Lantern Slides of Gardens

"House of Usefulness" schoolhouse, National Cash Register Company, Dayton, Ohio. Window box.

Abbey Goes Design Scouting recently wrote about this wonderful collection of hand colored lantern slides from photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) which are held by the Library of Congress.  These were originally used for garden lectures and many of them are of grand estates or public places, depicting more formal gardens, but my favorites are of the smaller, more personal, less manicured gardens.

Ruth Bramley Dean house, 150 East 61st Street, New York, New York. Garden bench.

"Thornewood," Chester Thorne house, Lakewood, Washington. View to house from flower garden.

"Willowmere," Rear Admiral Aaron Ward house, 435 Bryant Avenue, Roslyn Harbor, New York Iris beds.

 

"Willowmere," Rear Admiral Aaron Ward house, 435 Bryant Avenue, Roslyn Harbor, New York. Spring bulbs.

"Près Choisis," Albert Herter house, Georgica Pond, East Hampton, New York. Blue and white garden terrace.

Turtle Bay Gardens, 227-247 East 48 Street and 228-46 East 49 Street, New York, New York View east to common garden.

There is an accompanying book to this collection called Gardens for a Beautiful America: 1895-1935. 

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