Emily Dickinson once described herself as “a lunatic on bulbs.” Frances Hodgson Burnett of Secret Garden fame, called herself “flower drunk.” For the past 30 years, Marta McDowell has been occupied—some might say preoccupied—with writers who garden. Researching their horticultural interests has changed her planting beds as well as her bookshelves. Starting with Mark Twain, one of Wave Hill House’s illustrious tenants, and connecting to authors ranging from Dickinson to Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Beatrix Potter and Burnett, McDowell will explore the writer-gardener connection in their gardens and her own.
