Seasons in a Country Garden

By Freda Cox
Fulcrum, $27.95

ISBN 1-55591-233-8

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An English reverie

Review by Pat Regel

If you've ever read The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady and were enchanted by the author's drawings and handwritten text, you'll nab Seasons in a Country Garden on the spot. Freda Cox has written (in her handwriting) and illustrated (her own drawings) this lovely book. British by birth, Cox grew up exploring the countryside and painting the flora and fauna she found there. Her efforts are presented in colorful sketches in a month-by-month format.

Every page overflows with bouquets, personal thoughts, and local color. Have you ever heard of "corn dollies," Mothering Sunday, Whitsuntide, Guy Fawkes' Night, "Poppy Day" or Boxing Day? There's also a section on English weather lore that this weather-wise garden reviewer found absorbing.

Here's a taste:

"A green Christmas, a white Easter."

"When it rains with the wind in the east, it rains for 24 hours at least."

"A round topped cloud with flattened base carries rain--fall in its face."

Hey, I can relate (as we used to say in the '60s). The reader will learn something of birds, flowers, the country of Great Britain, and, of course, the English. For this reason, Anglophiles are advised to give the book a gander.

Pat Regel is a gardener and an Associate Professor of English. She can be reached at pat_regel@bookpage.com.

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