About this item
"This informative gem of a book is for readers fascinated by either gardening or presidential history." - Library Journal The eighteen acres that surround the White House have been an unwitting witness to history--a backdrop for soldiers, suffragettes, protestors, and activists. Kings and queens have dined there; bills and treaties have been signed; and presidents have landed and retreated. The front and back yard for the first family, it is by extension the nation's first garden. All the Presidents' Gardens tells the untold history of the White House Grounds. Starting with the seed-collecting, plant-obsessed George Washington and ending with Michelle Obama's focus on edibles, this rich and compelling narrative reveals how the story of the garden is also the story of America. Readers learn about Lincoln's goats, Ike's putting green, Jackie's iconic roses, Amy Carter's tree house, and much more. They also learn the plants whose favor has come and gone over the years and the gardeners who have been responsible for it all. Fully illustrated with new and historical photographs and art, refreshingly nonpartisan, and releasing just in time for election year, this is a must-read for anyone interested in the red, white, and green!
About the Author
Marta McDowell teaches landscape history and horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden. Her latest book is Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life. Timber Press also published The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder, All the Presidents' Gardens, and Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life, now in its seventh printing. She is working on a new book about The Secret Garden, due out in 2021. Marta is the 2019 recipient of the Garden Club of America's Sarah Chapman Francis Medal for outstanding literary achievement. She likes to read, knit, and garden. Her husband, Kirke Bent, summarizes her biography as "I am therefore I dig."
