Comments on: Henry Mitchell: Eminently Quotable

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:39:25 +0000

My all-time Henry Mitchell quote is still:

Most of my daffodils have severe defects, by show standards, but then they make a brave show all the same. I have several that are to my eye distinctly ugly, but I like them too. One is a bicolor trumpet, white perianth with a really gross megaphone sticking out in intense neon-lemon, frilled to beat the band, like a whore on Easter.

.-= Bob´s last blog ..Kabak Çiçe?i Gibi… Squash Flowers =-.

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:36:55 +0000

Don, Elizabeth Lawrence is, in fact under consideration.

By: Don

Don — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:56:38 +0000

Mitchell is probably our best garden writer, but if I could make a suggestion for your club: consider Elizabeth Lawrence, perhaps with her book A Tale Of Two Gardens. She had that rare skill of endowing her writing with a sense of place, something which must be very difficult, as it is so rare in garden writing.

By: Carol

Carol — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 04:48:06 +0000

I am planning to post the December selection at the end of the week, right after Thanksgiving, and also the January selection at the same time, in case anyone wants to put it on their Christmas wish list. It is a fairly new book so I don’t know that a lot of people have it.

In both cases, I’ve also come up with a way for people to participate who don’t have time to read the book or have access to it.

I’ve counted up 4 official H.M. posts and if I go back through the notes I’m keeping, I think there are a few earlier ones. By the way, I’m interested in selecting another garden essayist for February, if you have any ideas…

By: Annie in Austin

Annie in Austin — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 02:08:11 +0000

Actually, Kathy, that was more in the nature of a “Nyah, nyah – you didn’t get my favorite” or “Thank heavens you didn’t use my favorite.” Mine’s in draft and I was afraid you’d say the same things.

Monday – I promise – Monday!!

Annie

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 02:05:26 +0000

Carol, thank you for choosing Henry Mitchell for the first book. I was hoping we’d have seen more entries by now. When are you going to announce next month’s selection?

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 02:02:21 +0000

Oh, Annie, just because I didn’t post “your” favorite quote doesn’t mean it isn’t one of “my” favorites. It is as Mr. Klinkenborg said, it’s hard to stop quoting Henry. I had to make myself stop, and I tried to use quotes that illustrated my points without resorting to quoting whole pages. Sometimes I am tempted to make a pastiche of Henry Mitchell quotes, especially since if you pull quotes from different essays, you can show that he contradicts himself–and he’s right in both quotes!

By: Annie in Austin

Annie in Austin — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 00:29:55 +0000

It’s fascinating to see what quotes or chapters different people find are the ones that “speak” to them. You didn’t even get my favorite, Kathy!

The saddest quote above?
“All is at last in balance and all is serene. The gardener is usually dead, of course.”
Henry was not quite seventy when he died on November 12, 1993 – and seventy is not old enough to be called a ripe old age – it was too young.

I found this remark from Verlyn Kinkenborg in the NYTimes, in talking about the On Gardening book,
“It’s always tempting to quote Mitchell, but once you start it’s hard to know where to stop.”

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

By: Carol

Carol — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 03:12:41 +0000

Wonderful. I love how you pulled out these quotes. I read the whole book, but seeing these quotes pulled out “to stand on their own” seems to give them more meaning. It is like how one rose cut from a rose garden and set on display in a vase seems to take on a regalness all its own, not necessarily noticed when it was all mixed in with the other roses.