Marta McDowell – författare

“A visual treat as well as a literary one…for gardeners and garden lovers, connoisseurs of botanical illustration, and those who seek a deeper understanding of the life and work of Emily Dickinson.” —The Wall Street Journal Emily Dickinson was a keen observer of the natural world, but less well known is the fact that she was also an avid gardener—sending fresh bouquets to friends, including pressed flowers in her letters, and studying botany at Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke. At her family home, she tended both a small glass conservatory and a flower garden. In Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life, award-winning author Marta McDowell explores Dickinson’s deep passion for plants and how it inspired and informed her writing. Tracing a year in the garden, the book reveals details few know about Dickinson and adds to our collective understanding of who she was as a person. By weaving together Dickinson’s poems, excerpts from letters, contemporary and historical photography, and botanical art, McDowell offers an enchanting new perspective on one of America’s most celebrated but enigmatic literary figures.

A New York Times Bestseller There aren't many books more beloved than The Tale of Peter Rabbit and even fewer authors as iconic as Beatrix Potter. Her characters-Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle Duck, and all the rest-exist in a charmed world filled with flowers and gardens. In Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life, bestselling author Marta McDowell explores the origins of Beatrix Potter's love of gardening and plants and shows how this passion came to be reflected in her work. The book begins with a gardener's biography, highlighting the key moments and places throughout her life that helped define her. Next, follow Beatrix Potter through a year in her garden, with a season-by-season overview of what is blooming that truly brings her gardens alive. The book culminates in a traveller's guide, with information on how and where to visit Potter's gardens today.

"This gorgeous book has the heft of an ancient herbal. It is a treasure for anyone interested in the healing properties of plants. Blackwell’s precise depictions... are beautifully reproduced. It is a joy to turn every page." — Susan Fraser, Director Emerita of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, New York Botanical Garden"The [text], so carefully researched, for the first time provides what feels to be a factual and fascinating insight into Blackwell’s life and the depth of her endeavor, in a world dominated by men, whilst dispelling some of the myths and misinformation that surrounded her." — Sue Medway, Director and Curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden, London“Magnificent and long-overdue, it will surely become an essential reference for scholars of Blackwell, and anyone interested in 18th century botany.” — Will Beharrell, Librarian of the Linnean Society of London "As a wife and mother excluded from the male institutions of eighteenth-century British botany and medicine, Elizabeth Blackwell created her Curious Herbal against tremendous odds. In this new edition, Blackwell’s gorgeous plates bloom afresh, while two engaging essays―by Martha McDowell and Janet Stiles Tyson―vividly capture the life and times of this brave, talented woman. Almost three centuries on, this stunning volume does justice to Blackwell’s great achievement in medical botany." ― Victoria Johnson, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist for American EdenA complete edition of the first herbal published by a woman artist—which has a remarkable backstoryIn the 1730s, Elizabeth Blackwell (1699–c. 1758) found herself penniless, with her ne’er-do-well husband confined to a London debtor’s prison. A talented artist, she came up with a unique and ambitious moneymaking scheme: the publication of a new illustrated guide to medicinal plants, including many New World species not depicted in earlier books. Blackwell’s Curious Herbal, published between 1737 and 1739, was hailed for its usefulness to doctors and apothecaries and met with considerable financial success.This magnificent volume—the first modern edition of Blackwell’s herbal—reproduces all 500 of her exquisite plates. Blackwell not only made the drawings, but prepared the copper plates and personally hand-coloured them. Her handwritten descriptions of the plants, which she creatively adapted (with permission) from Joseph Miller’s Botanicum Officinale, retain considerable interest. This book features a previously unknown preface by Blackwell, in which she reveals her passion for art and nature, and her vision for the herbal. Two introductory texts contextualise Blackwell’s achievement: the noted garden writer Marta McDowell explores the history of herbals as a genre, and the state of botanical knowledge in Blackwell’s time; and the historian Janet Stiles Tyson relates the artist’s rather extraordinary biography.A Curious Herbal will be essential for all lovers of botanical art, and for anyone interested in women’s history and the history of science.

A miniature treasury of medicinal plants, drawn from the work of a pioneering woman artist. This miniature book contains a veritable garden of healing plants, specially chosen from Elizabeth Blackwell’s Curious Herbal (1737–39). A talented artist, Blackwell published her herbal as a means of financial support after her husband landed in debtor’s prison — and it quickly became a prized reference for doctors and apothecaries. Each of the 140 exquisite hand-coloured engravings featured herein — from elderberry and chamomile to aloe and St. John’s wort — is accompanied by Blackwell’s description of its medicinal properties. The plants have been selected by the renowned garden writer Marta McDowell, who also contributes an introduction about Elizabeth Blackwell and the herbal medicine of her time. Healing Plants is the perfect little gift for anyone interested in herbalism, botany, or gardening.

“If you loved Wilder’s books, or if you garden with a child who loves her books, you will enjoy the read.” —San Francisco Chronicle In this revealing exploration of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s deep connection with the natural world, Marta McDowell follows the wagon trail of the beloved Little House series. You’ll learn details about Wilder’s life and inspirations, pinpoint the Ingalls and Wilder homestead claims on authentic archival maps, and learn how to grow the plants and vegetables featured in the series. Excerpts from Wilder’s books, letters, and diaries bring to light her profound appreciation for the landscapes at the heart of her world. Featuring the beloved illustrations by Helen Sewell and Garth Williams, plus hundreds of historic and contemporary photographs, The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder is a treasure that honors Laura’s wild and beautiful life.

“Affectionate and informative, Unearthing the Secret Garden is not unlike a garden itself, with its smooth lawns of prose and striking shows of illustration and photography.” —The Wall Street JournalNew York Times bestselling author Marta McDowell has revealed the way that plants have stirred some of our most cherished authors, including Beatrix Potter, Emily Dickinson, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. In her latest, she shares a moving account of how gardening deeply inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author of the beloved children's classic The Secret Garden. In Unearthing The Secret Garden, McDowell delves into the professional and gardening life of Frances Hodgson Burnett. Complementing her fascinating account with charming period photographs and illustrations, McDowell paints an unforgettable portrait of a great artist and reminds us why The Secret Garden continues to touch readers after more than a century. This deeply moving and gift-worthy book is a must-read for fans of The Secret Garden and anyone who loves the story behind the story.

With their deadly plants, razor-sharp shears, shady corners, and ready-made burial sites, gardens make an ideal scene for the perfect murder. But the outsize influence that gardens and gardening have had on the mystery genre has been underappreciated. Now, Marta McDowell, a writer and gardener with a near-encyclopaedic knowledge of the genre, illuminates the many ways in which our greatest mystery writers, from Edgar Allen Poe to authors on today's bestseller lists, have found inspiration in the sinister side of gardens.From the cozy to the hardboiled, the literary to the pulp, and the classic to the contemporary, Gardening Can Be Murder is the first book to explore the mystery genre's many surprising horticultural connections. Meet plant-obsessed detectives and spooky groundskeeper suspects, witness toxic teas served in foul play, and tour the gardens-both real and imagined-that have been the settings for fiction's ghastliest misdeeds. A New York Times bestselling author herself, McDowell also introduces us to some of today's top writers who consider gardening integral to their craft, assuring that horticultural themes will remain a staple of the genre for countless twisting plots to come. "This book is dangerous. A veritable cornucopia of crime fiction and gardening lore, it faces the reader with multiple temptations-books to seek out, plants to obtain, garden tours to book." -Vicki Lane, author of the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries

Since 1800, the 18 acres surrounding the White House have been an unwitting witness to history. Kings and queens have dined there, bills and treaties have been signed, and presidents have landed and retreated. Through it all, the grounds have remained not only beautiful, but also a powerful reflection of American trends both horticultural and just plain cultural.In All the Presidents' Gardens, Marta McDowell reveals the untold history of the White House grounds through surprising presidential facts, historical and contemporary photographs, vintage seed catalogues, and rare glimpses into the lives of our leaders. History buffs will revel in the fascinating tidbits about Lincoln's goats, Ike's putting green, Jackie's iconic roses, and Amy Carter's tree house. Gardeners will thrill to the information on the plants whose favour has come and gone over the years and the visionary gardeners who have been responsible for it all. This revised and updated paperback edition brings the story of America's First Garden up through the present day, including the Trumps' controversial changes to the grounds and the Biden's aim to give the space a wider cultural resonance.