Jackson, Mississippi
How a curious plant led me down a rabbit hole (or at least had me pulling a half-dozen books off my shelves) and a sketchbook grounded me in a historic garden.
I visited Eudora Welty’s garden in Jackson, MS, on March 6, when her Camellia Garden was in full glory. Other blooms included Quince, Leucojum, Spiraea, and a small Narcissus. In 1925, Eudora moved with her parents into this home they built across the street from Belhaven University as a teenager and stayed in this family home for the rest of her long life.
I walked through the museum but, with limited time, chose to sit in the garden and sketch rather than tour her home. Settling in an arbor with my sketchbook, I can immerse myself in the garden, taking in the details, listening to birds, feeling the breeze or sunshine. A quick photo cannot offer nearly as much information or memory.
A woman in the gift shop told me that all the plants in the garden were ones that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Eudora Welty (1909–2001) and her mother had grown. One plant that felt a bit out of place to me was Helleborus. I hadn’t thought of it as a historic garden plant, but there it was. Unfortunately, I can't recall which variety I saw in Welty’s garden. No Helleborus were in the plant lists in a book about her garden, but the Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger) was listed “in Welty prose”.
Curiosity about this plant’s presence led me to a 1961 column by Katharine White (1892–1977), the longtime New Yorker editor (starting in 1925, quite the accomplishment!) and garden writer. She described how her Christmas Rose in Maine “may be putting out its blossoms in the snowdrift that buries it.” In the same paragraph, she praised Elizabeth Lawrence (1904-85) as a gifted garden writer, landscape architect and horticulturist.
Lenten Roses in a different garden.
Lawrence wrote extensively about Helleborus niger and mentioned Helleborus angustifolia (Corsican hellebore) in her 1942 book A Southern Garden. After moving to Charlotte, NC, Lawrence admitted in her 1961 book Gardens in Winter that she “was never able to grow it (Helleborus niger) in my Raleigh garden.” However, she successfully grew Lenten Roses (Helleborus orientalis) in Charlotte later, which had been sent to her by a friend in Ohio. She added, “None of the other Helleborus species have prospered with me, though I have tried all I could get hold of.”
Perhaps this is why the Lenten Rose is the most familiar Hellebore to me—it thrives in Southern gardens. It seems Helleborus was grown by plant collectors in the 19th century, with Christmas Rose becoming popular in American gardens in the first half of the 20th century and more varieties, especially Lenten Rose, later (no doubt with the surge of mail order catalogs). Deer resistant, evergreen, shade loving and winter blooming, Hellebores have a lot to offer. With today’s stunning new varieties, Lenten Rose feels like a relatively recent garden plant to me.
A fun discovery as I went down this rabbit hole was how these three very accomplished women connected through writing and gardening. All three women—Eudora Welty, Elizabeth Lawrence, and Katharine White—were avid readers and correspondents, sharing letters and reading each other’s books and columns. Luckily, those books, columns and letters are still available for us to read.
Related books:
Links to bookshop.org, where books ship to you and profits go to local bookstores. Some books are not currently in print, but used copies can be found.
One Writer's Garden: Eudora Welty's Home Place
Susan Haltom and Jane Roy Brown, Photography by Langdon Clay
Tell about Night Flowers: Eudora Welty's Gardening Letters, 1940-1949
Julia Eichelberger (Editor)
Onward and Upward in the Garden
Katharine S. White
Elizabeth Lawrence
Gardens in Winter
Elizabeth Lawrence
Two Gardeners: A Friendship in Letters
Katharine S. White & Elizabeth Lawrence (edited by Emily Herring Wilson)
Related gardens:
Eudora Welty House & Garden, Jackson, MS, eudoraweltyhouse.com
Elizabeth Lawrence House & Gardens and Wing Haven Gardens (2 historic gardens on the same street), Charlotte, NC, winghavengardens.org
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