Gardens have been the setting for great literature throughout time, from Ophelia's "rosemary for remembrance" to Miss Marple tending her rose bushes. Here is a selection of literature with gardens and plants as a backdrop or integral part of the story. Many of the books listed are out of print; all are available in the Seattle Public or King County Public Library systems.

FICTION

Arkell, Reginald. OLD HERBACEOUS. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1951. Delightful descriptions and characterizations enliven this tale of an old-time gardener in an English countryside garden and his love of plants. Considered an English gardening classic, it is now available in paperback.

Bellow, Saul. MORE DIE OF HEARTBREAK. New York: William Morrow, 1987. The life of an eminent botanist, revered by his fellow specialists for his work on Arctic lichens, changes dramatically when he acquires an avaricious young wife.

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. THE SECRET GARDEN, new ed. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1987. In this classic of children's literature originally published in 1911, 10-year-old Mary comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors, where she discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden.

Goudge, Elizabeth. THE WHITE WITCH. New York: Coward McCann, 1958. Historical novel about an herbalist during the period of the English civil war.

James, Henry. THE ASPERN PAPERS. 1908. Young opportunist uses the neglected Venetian garden of two shy, mysterious American ladies as a pretext to get himself taken in as a lodger and gardener, in order to obtain access to some secret papers which the ladies jealously guard.

Kosinski, Jerzy. BEING THERE. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1970. Chance the Gardener philosophically compares life to a garden, with amusing results.

Pearson, Diane. THE MARIGOLD FIELD. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1969. From the turn of the century to the end of WW I, this novel follows the fortunes of two British families who work on the local squire's estate, but begin to set their sights beyond gardening and the rural life.

Read, Miss. (Pseudonym for Dora Jesse Saint) For forty years readers have visited the villages of Fairacres and Thrush Greene through Miss Read's many books. Gardens, teas, country fetes -- it's easy to get caught up in the lives of the villagers.
THRUSH GREEN. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1959.
AFFAIRS AT THRUSH GREEN. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
SUMMER AT FAIRACRE. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
And more...

Sherman, D.R. OLD MALI AND THE BOY. Boston: Little, Brown, 1964. A timeless story of a boy taught by a wise and humble gardener about life and courage. Written by a young Rhodesian.

Shields, Carol. LARRY'S PARTY. New York: Viking Penquin, 1997. Larry is an underacheiving florist from Winnipeg, on his honeymoon with a newly pregnant wife, when he is lost and then found in the ancient and classic hedge maze at Hampton Court. He falls in love with the mystery of it, the greenness of the shrubs, the names of the plants. The intricate possibilities of maze design change Larry's life as he first surrounds his little house with a maze, then moves out into the world to become a designer of mazes for the rich and famous.

Swann, E.L. NIGHT GARDENING. New York: Hyperion, 1999. The healing power of gardens and their ability to inspire romance and to absorb tragedy, is the theme of this small book. Maggie is an Irish-American widow recovering from a stroke when she spies through a gap in her garden wall the extensive renovations taking place in the garden next door, overseen by landscape architect Tristan Mallory. Their eyes meet, plant names are exchanged, holes are dug, and romance blossoms.

MYSTERY

Adamson, Lydia. A CAT BY ANY OTHER NAME. New York: Signet, 1992. An Alice Nestleton mystery involving cats and gardening.

Albert, Susan Wittig. China Bayles gave up life in the fast lane as a lawyer in Houston to own an herb shop in the central Texas town of Pecan Springs. However, murder and intrigue can show up even in sleepy little towns.
THYME OF DEATH: A MYSTERY INTRODUCING CHINA BAYLES. New York: Scribner's, 1992.
WITCHES' BANE. New York: Scribner's, 1993.
And more...

Black, Lionel. (Also published as Anthony Matthews) DEATH HAS GREEN FINGERS. Walker, 1971.
A rose growers' weekend is interrupted by the murder of a man who was trying to breed a blue rose.

Christie, Agatha. From her garden Miss Marple watches the village goings-on and gathers clues to solve murders. "Gardening is as good as a smoke screen," says Miss Marple.
MURDER AT THE VICARAGE. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1930.
NEMESIS. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1971.
And more...

Godden, Jan. IN HER GARDEN. New York: Knopf, 1981. An English gothic suspense novel, set in a formal English country garden.

Godden, Rumer. AN EPISODE OF SPARROWS. New York: Viking, 1955. The garden that two London slum children make from a packet of cornflower seeds changes people's lives in a seedy London neighborhood.

Matteson, Stefanie. MURDER AT TEA TIME. Diamond Books, 1991. Murder involving a famous botanical library (on the EAST coast).

Nichols, Beverley. Well-known in gardening circles for his sharp wit and strong opinions in such books as GREEN GROWS THE CITY, Nichols was a true Renaissance man who wrote on a wide range of subjects, including murder.
NO MAN'S STREET. New York: Dutton, 1954.
THE MOONFLOWER MURDER. New York: Dutton, 1955.
And more...

Peters, Ellis. Brother Cadfael, a 12th-century monk and herbalist, solves murders from the Abbey's kitchen garden.
A MORBID TASTE FOR BONES. New York: Morrow, 1978.
THE HERMIT OF EYTON FOREST: THE FOURTEENTH CHRONICLE OF BROTHER CADFAEL. New York: Mysterious Press, 1988.
THE HERETIC'S APPRENTICE: THE SIXTEENTH CHRONICLE OF BROTHER CADFAEL. New York: Mysterious Press, 1990.
And more...

Rothenberg, Rebecca. A woman microbiologist encounters murder and sabotage; solid botanical facts interspersed throughout the stories.
THE BULRUSH MURDERS: A BOTANICAL MYSTERY. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1991.
THE DANDELION MURDERS. New York: Mysterious Press, 1994.
THE SHY TULIP MURDERS. New York: Mysterious Press, 1996.

Sayers, Dorothy. BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON. New York: Harcourt, 1937. Lord Peter and Harriet Vane finally get married and choose a quiet honeymoon cottage complete with large country garden. Even in this bucolic setting, however, they can't escape murder...

Sherwood, John. Newly-widowed Celia Grant starts her own nursery and gardening business, only to be distracted by a body turning up in a freshly-dug planting bed. Her detective skills are called on again on a trip to New Zealand, and next to solve another murder set in a dilapidated estate garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll, and many more adventures.
GREEN TRIGGER FINGER. New York: Scribner, 1984.
A BOTANIST AT BAY. New York: Scribner, 1985.
THE MANTRAP GARDEN. New York: Scribner, 1986.
FLOWERS OF EVIL. New York: Scribner, 1987.
A BOUQUET OF THORNS. New York: Scribner, 1988.
MENACING GROVES. New York: MacMillan, 1989.
THE SUNFLOWER PLOT. New York: MacMillan, 1991.
And more...

Stout, Rex. The Nero Wolfe series of detective stories feature a hero who grows orchids in a greenhouse on the roof of his New York brownstone.
BLACK ORCHIDS. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1942.
OVER MY DEAD BODY. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1968.
PLEASE PASS THE GUILT. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1973.
And more...

FANTASY

Gutteridge, L. COLD WAR IN A COUNTRY GARDEN. New York: Putnam, 1971. Reduced to 1/4" in a scientific program of miniaturization, Matthew Dilke learns to survive in an English country garden among monstrous insects and towering plants.

Tate, Peter. GARDENS ONE TO FIVE. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. Inhabitants of five gardens are observed by an unseen force.

POETRY

Wilson, Helen Van Pelt, editor. THE GARDENER'S BOOK OF VERSE. New York: M. Barrows and Company, 1966. Poems for all seasons.

To locate collections which include the following poems, see GRANGER'S INDEX TO POETRY, 8th ed.
Allen, Alice E. My Mother's Garden
Carman, Bliss. An Autumn Garden
DeBevoise, Arlene. Two Gardens
De la Mare, Walter. The Sunken Garden
Kipling, Rudyard. The Glory of the Garden
Moss, Howard. The Roof Garden
Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Gardener
Wagoner, David. Elegy While Pruning Roses
Falling Asleep in a Garden

To locate collections which include the following poems, see GRANGER'S Allen, Alice E. My Mother's Garden
Carman, Bliss. An Autumn Garden
DeBevoise, Arlene. Two Gardens
De la Mare, Walter. The Sunken Garden
Kipling, Rudyard. The Glory of the Garden
Moss, Howard. The Roof Garden
Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Gardener
Wagoner, David. Elegy While Pruning Roses