As New Hampshire braces for another snowstorm I have been putting together the Spring issue of Book Notes which includes an article about Celia Thaxter. In her honor I have chosen An Island Garden as the book for this week. Published in 1894 by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. this volume is Celia Thaxter's response to the friends who, summer after summer, asked her to tell them how she created her beautiful garden on Appledore Island. The book is illustrated by Childe Hassam and the author has "spared no smallest detail that seemed to me necessary, no suggestion that might prove helpful." It is the beautiful descriptions that make this a wonderful book for a New Hampshire winter when summer seems so far away:
"A thousand varied hues amid the play of fluttering leaves: Marigolds ablaze in vivid flame; purple Pansies, -- a myriad flowers, white, pink, blue, carmine, lavender, in waves of sweet color and perfume to the garden fence, where stand the sentinel Sunflowers and Hollyhocks, gorgeously arrayed and bending gently to the breeze; Sunflowers with broad faces that seem to reflect the glory of the day; the Hollyhocks, tall spikes of pale and deep pink, white, scarlet, yellow, maroon, and many hues. Over the sweet sea of flowers the butterflies go wavering on airy wings of white and gold, the bees hum in the Hollyhocks and the humming-birds glitter like jewels in the sun . . . "
